The Gardener
by x-careless.whisper-x
Summary: During the summer between freshman year and sophomore, Troy took the job of a gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer, how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had? TxG
1. Prologue

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of a gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how could he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

**Author's note: So anyways hi! Thanks for clicking on the link. I decided to try writing something new, something different from the light and funny plot I did for His Dream Girl. This one will be more serious, I hope. Anyways, enjoy!**

Prologue

On the first day of school, freshmen year, I used to think that now that I was in high school everything would be different and fun. I used to think that I would become a ladies' man and popular and that I would become someone entirely different from who I used to be in middle school. I was pretty much bummed out when I walked the halls of East High for the first time feeling not at all different from the year before. My buddies and I had promised each other that by the time freshmen year would end we would rule the school and each would have had our first girlfriends. But really, it was just big talk since we didn't end up being the 'men on campus' or 'babe magnets'. Nor did we really do any effort to obtain that kind of status.

By the end of the year, yeah, I guess we were considered cool. Like, not completely loser and reject, but not necessarily popular either. We were just a little above average, meaning, we were invited to parties but not to every one of them. We talked to the popular of our grade and got along with them just fine, but we didn't hang out with them. I used to think that once I built up some muscle on my scrawny frame, grown a few inches and the gap in my teeth disappeared, I would be the happiest guy alive because I would maybe have a shot with Gabriella. I also thought that it was only when I became popular that I would be worthy of her.

Her- Gabriella Montez- popular without being _the_ most popular. Best friends with Sharpay Evans therefore hanging out with the popular crowd. While most guys fantasize about Sharpay Evans, I long for the brunette standing in her shadow. Don't get me wrong, she does have many followers, in fact a lot of my gym classmates _talk_ about her in the locker room, they just don't seem to have it as bad as I do. From that first day in 6th grade when she transferred into my class back at East Middle School I had a crush on her. Seeing as I'm not entirely rejected from the student body, we did exchange few conversations in our freshmen days. Every single time, I'm not even going to lie, I wrote it down in my agenda. That's how much of a loser I am.

Today is our first day back from summer vacation. Many things have changed since that last day of school up till now.

"Troy, you're gonna be late!" my mom exclaims from upstairs.

"I know, I'm heading out right now," I reply, placing my toast between my teeth while I slid on my black hoodie. "Bye!" I yelled, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

"Have a good day hun," she says.

I closed the door behind me and finished eating my breakfast before making my way to the bus stop. I know I've been doing this for basically my whole life, but somehow today this just didn't seem right. I don't know, I meet up with the same students as last year to wait with them, take the same bus, but it somehow just doesn't feel _right_. I settle in a seat near the back, bring back my hood over my head and plugged in my ear buds. Listening to the same old songs that used to get me excited for the day, but they just don't anymore.

"Oh man, Bolt is that you?" I hear as soon as I step off the bus.

"Hey Jase, how you doin' man?" I ask meeting up with my old crew, cracking a smile.

I haven't seen my buds since they were either gone to visit their families or to summer camps, so it's nice to see them all again.

"Damn dude, d'you take steroids all summer or somethin'?" Chad Danforth jokes after we'd finish our infamous handshake.

"Yeah, you used to be so lost in that hoodie last year, but now it almost seems like it's too small for you," Zeke Baylor remarks. "And where did that tan come from?"

"Bet he went to a tanning salon all summer long too," Jason Cross chimes in.

I smile but say nothing else. The whole summer all I've done was mow the lawn and cut the bushes on those rich bastards' yards and I guess it paid off. I also realised I've grown a good 6 inches and the gap between my teeth is now a distant memory from freshmen year. Not only that but, one week ago my mom was forced to buy me some new t-shirts because they were all too tight on me. I almost don't recognise myself when I look at myself in the mirror! Also the fact that my usual shaggy brown hair is now shaven off into a short haircut doesn't really help the situation.

"Hey, how was the job by the way?" Zeke inquires.

"Um, it was," how am I supposed to say this? "exhausting." At least I'm not even lying.

"Did you get with Gabriella at least?" Jason replies.

They know I had a mad crush on her and they also know that I chose this job because I knew I would be working on her street.

"Yeah," I say simply.

"Yo speaking of hot chicks, this summer at camp…" Chad starts but I block him out.

This all seem so normal- too normal.

"Hey can we go inside? I kind of want to put my stuff in my locker," I interrupt.

"Yeah, sure. Anyways and then I just leaned down and…" my bushy haired friend continues but nonetheless we made our way inside.

Like last year, all four of us managed to get lockers beside each other. I open the metal door, shove my bag in and slid the lock I brought into the slot. I then turn around to pretend I'm listening to my friends. But then that's when something else catches my attention … or more like someone. Without addressing them another word, I hurriedly made my way through the crowd, ignoring all the gazes the girls were sending in my direction.

"Damn, Troy Bolton is so hot," I hear one girl state loudly.

Two months ago I would've cried in happiness if I would've heard that. Now, I'm totally indifferent to it, my focus entirely on the person standing only a meter away from me. Gabriella's eyes met with mine and I didn't hesitate to bring her against my chest, into a hug.

"I thought you said you wouldn't come today," I whisper against her hair, holding her equally as tight as she was.

I pull away a little to inspect her face and my heart clenches when I look into her sad eyes.

"I didn't feel like staying at home, with the Nielson's house across from ours," she admits softly, looking down.

I nod and hug her again, needing as much comfort as she does. I don't know how long we stayed like this, in each other's embrace; all I know is it was way too brief.

"It's gonna be alright, I promise," I whisper. "It just has to."

For me, all I could see, all that mattered now, was her. How she breathed against me, how her head rested comfortably on my chest, her strawberry smell, her presence, the way her body fitted into mine… everything else just seemed to fade away. In that moment I didn't care about the various stares we were getting from our schoolmates and that's all that mattered. We both groaned when we heard the first bell ring, meaning classes would start in 5 minutes.

"What class do you have?" I inquire.

"Smith," Gabriella sighs. "I don't want to get to class yet."

"I don't either, but the sooner this day starts, the sooner it'll be over. So come, I'll walk you," I suggest wrapping an arm around her waist.

We made our way around the school and once we were in front of her homeroom, she kisses me on the lips softly.

"Good luck," she says pulling away, eyes still closed.

"You too," I say sending her an encouraging smile before walking away.

The morning trailed on normally, Gabriella being in none of my classes to help me get by. It's incredibly surreal how not even three months ago I used to be heartbroken by the fact she would never like me back and now, I'm dating her. I also used to have a silly crush on her but now I fully love her. During the few classes I had with my friends, they would try to question me about what happened in the hallways earlier but every time I would just pretend I didn't hear them. When finally the lunch bell rang, I rushed out of my class, shoved my books in my locker and waited for her at her locker.

"So, I heard that you and Gab officialised yourself this morning huh?" Sharpay Evans remarks, smirking. "I thought you would've waited at least until lunch."

"Doesn't matter, either way they would've found out," I shrug.

"It seems like it's the new hot topic right now. You're lucky I knew about you guys or else I would've look incredibly stupid on my first day of sophomore year," she states.

"And nobody wants that I bet," I reply sarcastically.

"Shut up," she says punching me lightly on the arm.

Who would've thought that I would become sorta friends with Sharpay Evans by the end of the summer? I certainly didn't.

"Have you seen Gab?"

"Can't live without me, I see," I heard my girlfriend say behind me.

I turn around to see her smiling slyly. I'm relieved to see she looks happier than this morning. Without another word I wrap my arms around her and kiss her. I may seem clingy, but what can I say? I just missed her.

"How are you?" I inquire once we were done.

"Better," Gabriella says plainly, slipping her arms around my left bicep. "So, what did I miss?" she asks her best friend.

"Nothing except that I really really don't like your boyfriend," Sharpay declares.

"Oh no, what did he do again?" she questions raising an eyebrow at me.

"He doesn't get that I have a reputation to keep and he even makes fun of me," she pouts.

"Troy, you know her reputation is crucial to her," my girl startes, 'scolding' me. "After all, it's all she has."

We both burst out laughing and the blonde joined in, even if she was trying her hardest not to.

"You guys are horrible! You do deserve to be with each other," she declares.

"You know it!" I joke.

All three of us walked to the cafeteria, talking amiably with each other. It's crazy how much this past summer changed everything, I mean, here I am, hanging out with the two hottest girls in the whole school. I try not to look at all perturbed by the fact the whole school are looking at us when we walk in. My friends look the most shocked though. Settling in one of the empty table reserved to the popular gang, Sharpay leans closer to me and Gabriella.

"Have you heard anything about the Nielson's case?" she whispers cautiously, making sure no one else would hear what we were saying.

Gabriella's eyes darken, indicating she is upset and just shake her head.

"Not since, the case started," I state rubbing my girlfriend's back soothingly.

Sharpay is the only other person apart from me and Gabriella who knows what really went down the night Kelsi Nielson died two weeks ago and it is to stay that way. I'm not even going to tell anyone else about it. Not even my boys. They wouldn't understand. It feels like this secret is just going to set us apart. Besides they're going to find out soon enough at the trial when the judge will ask the gardener what happened on the 24th of August while he was picking up his stuff.

After all that's how it all started; I did choose to become the gardener that summer. And it's because of my job that I became witness to a murder.

**Like it? Hate it? Please leave a review to tell me what you think.**


	2. Flashback 1

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

**Author's note: Sorry for not updating sooner. Thanks for all the people that reviewed/favorited/alerted, you guys are the best!**

Chapter one

June 22nd 2009

"Troy, wake up."

Ugh, this sounds like my mom's voice. Is it September yet? Shit, summer vacation went by too fast.

"Troy, you know that gardening job you wanted? Well it was available so I got it for you," she declares.

I snap my eyes open; did she just say what I think she said?

"What?" I sputter.

"You're going to be a gardener Troy," she repeats grinning.

"Seriously?" Somehow I just can't bring myself to believe this.

"Seriously," she confirms.

I grin big time and hug my mom tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I repeat.

For weeks now I've been asking my mom to get me hired for the gardening job offered to students during the summer. She's working at the community center so she can pull a few strings. I know, I know, mowing the lawns of the rich men of Albuquerque all day long in the scorching sun is probably not your idea of the perfect summer job, but it is for me. The reason for my excitement has a name, it's Gabriella Anne Montez. For almost 4 years I've had a crush on her. I know she's totally out of my league and I also know that her dad always hires a gardener for the summer. So basically, I'm going to get paid for staring at the most beautiful girl all summer long.

"When do I start?" I ask eagerly.

"Today, at 10."

I look at my alarm clock and my eyes bulge out when I see it's already nine.

"Oh shit! I only have one hour!" I exclaim, quickly getting up and rushing into the shower.

Behind me I hear my mom chuckle. It wouldn't surprise me that she knows about my fondness of the brunette. My friends do have big mouths after all. With only a towel wrapped around my waist I look at myself in the bathroom mirror, inspecting to see if I'm decent enough for her. My chest is still flat and so is my stomach, my arms are really skinny too, and even if I flex there's not really a bump. I'm not exactly pale but not incredibly tan either. Damn, why didn't I start going to the gym like I had planned? There is also no trace whatsoever of my beard, my skin being as soft as a baby's. Luckily my long mop of hair takes away from that fact (it is so massive; it shields my face from view).

"Troy, breakfast's ready! You have 30 minutes before you need to grab the lawnmower and all the stuff you need," my mom yelled from downstairs.

I go in my room and get dressed in my gray Bermuda shorts that fall below the knees over a clean pair of boxers. Now for the shirt, I open my drawer and start to ponder about what would look best on me. I grab my white graphic tee with a bunch of graffiti on it. It's baggy enough to hide my skinny frame, but fit well enough so I don't look lost in it. I apply some deodorant and made my way downstairs.

"Wow, you look quite dashing for someone who's going to be exposed to the sun all day and sweat a lot," my mom remarks.

"You always gotta look at your best whatever the circumstances," I shrug.

She drives me to the community center and the manager of my new job explains all the basics I need to know about how the different tools work, when to take breaks and all that. With my lawnmower, several scissors, bug spray, gloves etc., I was ready to go.

My mom takes me to my first neighbourhood. It's the richest of the whole town, the yards are huge and the houses aren't even close to one other, various tree separating them. I know by the look of it that this is Gabriella's street. I meet up with the owner of the first house and he explains to me what he expects for the summer. I start by mowing his front yard, only to discover that it's harder than I had expected. By 11 the sun is already high in the sky and the temperature is scorching hot. Remembering what my boss said, I take off my shirt and just work the rest of the way, shirtless. My hair is becoming a bother; it just warms my neck and forehead and won't stop hanging in front of my face. Finished, I gladly take the glass of water the owner gives me before going to the next house where I repeat it all over again.

"This is so tiring," I mumble pushing the machine in front of me.

My neck is covered in sweat, my chest is covered in sweat, my shoulders are covered in sweat, my face is covered in sweat! I'm sweating all over and trust me, it is not at all rewarding. I feel like the most disgusting guy on earth right now. Finally I reach the Montez' house. Feeling my energy level boost up a little, I ring the doorbell. I wonder if I should put my shirt back on or not but decide against it, since it would just look even more disgusting.

"Oh, you must be our new gardener!" a tall man greets me, opening the door.

He looks like Gabriella a lot; they have the same eyes.

"Yes sir, my name's Troy Bolton, what can I do for you today, sir?" I inquire politely.

"Well, um, I guess you could start by mowing the lawn," he replies slowly, as if trying to remember what needs to be done.

"Will do, sir," I oblige.

Many times, his wife or he came to offer me some water, but not once did I see my Gabriella. I'm starting to think that maybe she went somewhere else for the whole summer. I feel pretty disappointed when I realise I hadn't thought of that earlier. However I got my answer when Mr. Montez' phone starts to ring.

"Hello?" he says, flipping his cell phone open. "Oh Ella! How are you? Your uncle's treating you well I hope. Oh no, here nothing major happened, don't worry. Yes, we did get our new gardener," he casts me a glance and I continue to cut the grass, pretending like I'm not listening to them at all. "Don't ask me that, I'm a man, I can't say another guy's cute. It's true! You'll just have to see for yourself in three weeks. Yeah. Okay, take care baby girl. Love you too. Bye."

So she is going to show up! I start to grin like a fool. When I finally finished all the houses in Gabriella's neighbourhood, it was 4; I went home. I take a long and relaxing shower to erase all traces of sweat I shed throughout the day. My body is not aching that much but I bet tomorrow's going to be a different story.

June 27th, 2009

I remember waking up on that second day, feeling so sore that I could barely move. I couldn't even move without feeling pain. That time, I dressed lighter, remembering how sweaty I've gotten the day before. By the end of that day, I was hurting so much that when I got home, I just took a shower and went to bed, without eating supper.

The third day, I was still sore, but not as much as the day before and just went to work without a shirt on, knowing it would be a bother more than anything else.

The following two days were spent the same way and as each day passed by, I realised I got tanner.

Finally, today is my day off. When I wake up, it is 2 PM and first thing I decide to do is go to the hair salon to cut my hair that is seriously pissing me off.

I got a buzz.

"What happened to your hair?!" my mom exclaims when I step into the house.

I am still sulking about the huge amount of hair I lost and deeply regret it, since I don't feel like myself anymore. I really should've thought thoroughly about it instead of just acting on an impulse.

"It was bothering me at work," I mumble, looking down. "And now I regret it."

"Oh Troy honey," she coo, stepping closer to touch my hair (or lack of). "It's not bad; it's different but not bad."

"It's way too short. I could've just gone bald and it wouldn't have made a difference," I mutter bitterly.

"Ah now don't get too overdramatic," she says. "I mean, honestly? Your old haircut was hiding your face all the time and now that it's shorter, we can see your beautiful blue eyes. I know you might feel naked right now, but I think you might like this hairstyle better than the last one."

Not a chance, but whatever, I won't sulk anymore, I need to take action.

"Can you drive me to the mall?" I inquire.

"Sure."

Walking around with my hood firmly on top of my head, I make my way around the air-conditioned indoor Albuquerque mall. That's when I find it, the thing I'm looking for. I uncover my head and try on beanie after beanie only to find myself buying a gray one, a black one, a blue, a green… basically all of them with the tips my client gave me this first week. I've almost dried up the whole stash of money I've made with first the haircut and now the beanies. Finally outside the store, I put on the gray one and start to feel better. I have 30 more minutes before my mom will pick me up so I just walk around, bored out of my mind. I eventually just sit down at one of the empty tables near the various food courts.

"You see that guy with the gray beanie, over there?" I hear a voice behind me.

I do not need to turn around to know that it is Sharpay Evans; I just pretend that I did not hear but continue to eavesdrop.

"Yeah, he looks familiar." I can not recognise the other girl's voice.

"His name's Troy Bolton," Gabriella's best friend continues.

"What, the Troy? The skinny kid with too much hair?"

"Yeah, but I guess he shaved it all off. Anyways, you know how Gabi's family always hires a gardener during the summer?" I presume the other girl nodded. "Well, he got the job because he wants to see her all summer long."

"Why would he do that?" the other girl gasps.

"Because he has a crush on her, duh," Sharpay declares.

I close my eyes as the other girl started to squeal at how cute that was. Shit, am I that obvious?

"Aww, how do you know that?"

"Well, in 6th grade when she moved into his class, she told me how shy he used to be around her and I remember that at our middle school Valentine ball he almost fainted when he asked her to dance."

"Aww damn, Gabriella always has the cute ones!" the other girl whines.

I want to crawl ten feet under the ground. Fortunately they can't see my face that is currently burning hot.

"Plus you must be deaf if you don't hear the way his lunkheads friends holler in the hallways whenever she's a meter away from him."

"Oh, that is why they're always acting like monkeys whenever we see them!"

"Yup."

"But does she know that he likes her?"

That's what I was waiting for.

"Ah come on, you know Gabi! Unless you tell her that a guy is trying to hit on her, she won't notice it."

"True that. Are you gonna tell her about him?"

"Nah, I want to see to what extent will this guy go to impress her. It'll be funny to see."

Not wanting to hear them gossip anymore I get up, humiliated, as I hear them laugh, and walk away. This is why I will never have any sort of contact with Sharpay Evans. Adjusting my beanie on my head I try to hide my red face the best I can considering that, now, I don't have my hair to do it for me anymore.

- - -

**Sorry if this chapter was boring and so not explanatory to the cliffhanger I left in the previous chapter. **

**Anyways, review please?**


	3. Chapter 1

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter two

September 22nd, 2009

For the last couple of weeks since we came back from vacation, I've been struggling to act like the old me with my buds. Keyword is: struggling. Truth to be told, I joke with them, hang with them but something just feels off, as if I'm lying to them because that's not who I am anymore. I don't feel at home in their company like I used to, I just feel as if I'm imprisoned. And trust me, it sucks.

We currently are at our lockers near the main doors and are watching the students arriving into the school. As usual, they're cracking jokes about the others appearances and as usual, I'm not listening. I nod and smile when I see they're talking to me, but I don't participate. The reason is that I'm waiting for Gabriella. I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon and we didn't talk on the phone because I stayed over at Chad's and truth to be told, I miss her.

And then finally, my prayers are answered because the doors opens, revealing my girl accompanied by Sharpay. Illuminating the room like she always does. Gabriella, not Sharpay, but that just might be because I'm biased.

"Bolt's getting a hard-on!" I faintly hear Chad exclaim.

"I wouldn't blame him; I mean that shirt she's wearing really brings out her tits."

This statement made by Jason obviously made the bastards I call friends howler in laughter. As part of my act, I let out a forced chuckle.

And then, her eyes meet mines; the mask is shed.

I separate myself from our group without much of an explanation since I know they get it. When we're within reach, I interlace my fingers with hers, without a word and we walk away. Arriving at our spot in the staircase, we're finally alone and I instantly feel relieve. She smiles at me shyly and say:

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," I grin back, leaning in to give her a good morning kiss.

She meets me halfway. After a while, Gabriella pulls back and still holding onto my hand, drag me to the steps where she sits down, making me do the same.

"I'm so glad you abducted me! I was gonna kill myself if I would've heard anymore of Sharpay's newly acquired puppy," she declares, dramatically.

"And I was gonna seriously punch someone if I would've heard any more of the guys' comments about you," I reply simply, making small circles on the back of her hand with my thumb.

"What were they saying?" she asks, curiously.

"That your shirt makes your boobs look good," I answer seriously. "And I definitely agree, by the way," I continue, smirking as she blushes before looking down at her chest, to check for herself.

"They're not that big," she grumbles.

"I know but they're big enough. Definitely big enough," I state, looking at her cleavage for emphasis.

"Perv!" she yells, swatting me on the arm.

I chuckle before bringing her close to me and kiss her on the head. Unfortunately, the first bell rings, announcing there is only 5 minutes left before class starts.

"We should go," Gabriella sighs.

"I know," I reply. "Just so we're sure, you're still coming to my house after school, right?"

"Yep," she nods.

"Alright, see you later babe," I say, kissing her one last time. "I love you."

"I love you too."

- - -

There is a skate ramp on our school ground, courtesy of last year's school president and this is where me, Chad, Zeke and Jason hangs out during lunch. After the first week back to school, Gab and I established that Monday's and Thursday's we would spend lunch together and the others, with our respective friends. Just so we could have a balance in our relationship. So, here I am, sitting on the railing, my helmet on my head and my skateboard beside me, just watching other guys fall on their asses trying to execute elaborate tricks.

"So Bolt, how are things between you and Gabs?" Chad questions, settling beside me, hair spilling everywhere from under his helmet.

I freeze. From the smug look on his face I know he is not just asking this to be polite. Either he's asking about our sex life or if we're having trouble and truthfully, I don't like either of those meanings.

"Good," I answer simply.

"So, no trouble?" he insists.

"Nope," I continue with a one-word answer.

"Damn, that must mean the sex is fucking good then," he snarls.

I don't like the challenge in his eyes. I know he wants to push my buttons for whatever reason and I really don't like it.

"Shut up Chad," I say lowly.

"What? Don't tell me you're not getting any of that ass!"

I don't know if it was the tone or the fact that he shouted it so everyone could hear that got to me, either way I throw my fist back and punch him, without having second thoughts about it. He screams in pain and I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. After all, he is my best friend.

"Dude what the fuck?!" Jason yells, angrily as he and the others came over to us.

I ignore them and walk away.

Without even bothering to grab my stuff in my locker, I go straight home which is like 5 miles from school. Damn, my hand hurts. I really did not imagine it would hurt like this. Maybe I took it too far, maybe I should apologize. But damn it, the way he looked at me when he said that… Ugh, just thinking about it makes my blood boil all over again.

When I finally am inside my house, I go sit on the couch of my living room, still in a daze. I'm probably going to get detention for skipping, but whatever. That was worth it. Gabriella is worth it. After all, she's the only one who actually do get me with the whole Kelsi thing and all. I guess I could try to explain to my friends about what happened this summer and truthfully I've come close to telling them several times in the past weeks, but every time, I somehow chicken out.

I guess I just can't bring myself to say it out loud. Can't bring myself to face the truth; that someone I knew and cared for was murdered. By her own father; her flesh and blood. It's just too disgusting and cruel; I just can't understand how someone can do this…

Troy, stop. Stop thinking about this right now. Especially since I'm all alone and if I start to think more about it, I might have a panic attack. It wouldn't be the first time anyway. And so I lean back, close my eyes and start thinking about more cheerful things like when me and Gab really met this summer, or how happy she was when we hanged out at the beach with her friends…

- - -

I am woken up by an annoying ringing sound. I open my eyes, groaning and remember I'm still on the living room's couch. As I try to sit up to go answer the door, pain flashes through my right hand. Oh, right. I punched Chad. I get up and answer the door. I smile when I see my girlfriend with her backpack on her shoulder. School must've ended.

"Hey," I say sheepishly as I took in her narrow eyes.

"Where were you?" Gabriella questions, her arms cross.

"Here," I shrug taking a step back to let her in.

"You skipped class and you didn't tell me? I could've gone with you," she retorts entering my house.

"Sorry, something came up and I didn't really have time to tell you," I answer.

She opens her mouth to say something but then she stops and I see her eyes are on my injured hand.

"What happened to you?" she asks worriedly.

"Nothing," I dismiss, hiding it behind my back.

I don't really feel like talking about Chad right now. Thing is, I don't want to let her know that things are not as great with my friends like how I described her this summer. Call it misplaced pride, I don't care. All I know is that I don't want to tell her about how my friends are not really my friends anymore or how they always seem to blame everything wrong about me on her.

"Your knuckles are red and you're hiding it from me, that's not what I call nothing," she replies, frowning.

"Just let it go Gab, I don't really feel like talking about it," I declare, trying as much as possible not to be too harsh on her.

I see her hesitating before finally softening her features in defeat.

"Can you at least let me see your hand?" she inquires, softly.

I nod and held it in front of myself. She approaches and takes my big one in her tiny hands. I wince as her fingertips brushes against my knuckles. Her eyebrows are knit together, indicating that she is deep in concentration as she is examining my hand.

"It's just red Gabriella. Don't worry, it'll probably be gone in a few days," I mumble. I don't want to make a big deal out of it.

She looks up to gauge my face and sigh before placing a kiss on all four of my knuckles.

"Are you staying over?" I ask.

"Do you want me to?"

"You know I always do."

"Good, because I already got the permission from my dad," she says grinning.

I roll my eyes, I should've known.

After eating supper with my mom and doing our school work, it is time to go to bed. My mom don't mind me and Gab sleeping in the same bed, since her room is right beside mine and she's a light sleeper, so any noise will wake her up. Plus it's not like this is the first time.

"So, now are you finally gonna tell me what happened to you today?" Gabriella ask coming out of the bathroom dressed in one of my basketball shorts and t-shirt.

I don't answer her immediately. I don't want to tell her but at the same time I don't want to lie to her. She comes over to my bed, where I'm lying, and snuggles into my chest, still looking at me with those innocent brown eyes.

"I punched someone because they were being an ass," I finally answer.

"Really?" she asks eyes wide in surprise.

"Yeah," I confirm. "By the way, I'm thinking of joining the basketball team this year."

If you haven't realised, I'm trying to change the subject. Although, this statement isn't totally random since I really am thinking about trying out.

"Seriously?"

That seemed to work.

"Yep. I mean, for years now my mom always bugged me about trying out but I always refused, but now I don't know, I guess I wanna give it a shot."

"Why?"

"Well, one, I know how much you love my body so I better keep in shape," I wink making her giggle. "Two, it looks good on College application if you were part of a club and three, I feel like it."

"Plus, you're good at it," she adds. "When are the try-outs?"

"I think it said in two weeks on one of the flier," I answer.

"Do you mind if I watch?"

"Um, no. I don't see why I would."

"Good, you don't really have a choice because I would've snuck in if you would have refused," she grinned.

I roll my eyes; my girlfriend is so stubborn sometimes.

- - -

**The reason why this chapter took so long is because I wasn't satisfied with it so yesterday I erased it and completely rewrote it. ****I know there are probably lots of mistakes in this one; the reason is that my beta is busy. The next chapters shouldn't take as long as this one since it's already done.**

**By the way, the banners for 'His Dream Girl', 'The Gardener' and 'The One Left Behind' are all on my profile so go check it out if you want. **

**Review please. **


	4. Flashback 2

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter three

July 6th 2009

After two weeks of starting my gardening job, I already can see changes in my body. My hair grew a little but not enough for my taste, I've noticed my abs are starting to get more obvious and so are my biceps (although they're not bulging out) and I'm ridiculously tanned. Grabbing my water bottle filled with ice, I climb into my mom's car to go to the community center to take my equipment and start my first day of the third week of being a gardener.

"Good morning Troy," the owner of the first house says in recognition.

I politely greet him back, showing him my pearly whites in the process. More and more of my clients are starting to get friendlier with me, some are giving me lunches, invite me in, stay with me to chat when I'm working, give me more tips, etc. It's nice; I'm starting to enjoy my job a lot more. Plus I'm getting used to the scorching sun and my muscles are not so sore anymore.

"Hello Troy," Mr. Montez greets me, sending me a nice smile.

"Hi Mr. Montez, what can I do for you today?" I inquire.

"I probably already told you this but my daughter is coming back from my brother's house today," he states, his eyes sparkling in joy. "And well, she really loves spending her days in our backyard's pool, so it would be great if you'd trim the bushes before she arrives."

"Consider it done," I promise.

I'm going to put one hundred and ten percent of work in those bushes even if it means I have to work overtime to make up with the other houses. As he leads me to the backyard, I try to mask my enthusiasm over the news of Gabriella's return.

"What are you so smiley about?" my crush's father asks, coyly.

"Oh nothing, it's just a really beautiful day don't you think?" I say smoothly, taking the big scissors to work.

"It doesn't have to do with a girl right?" he continues, teasingly.

"Of course not," I protested, blushing furiously.

"Whatever you say Troy," he says, not believing me one bit. "Anyways, I better head back; I have a lot of stuff to do before my little Ella arrives."

"Bye Mr. Montez."

I work intensely for 30 minutes straight, putting all my concentration on the big plants surrounding her backyard. But then a whistle interrupts my focus, making me jump in surprise. I turn around sharply and am startled to see Gabriella in the pool looking at me with a smirk on her face. My breath catches in my throat, damn she looks stunning.

"So you're the new gardener," she observes, looking pleased. "I almost didn't recognise you with your short hair."

"Yeah, um," I cough nervously. I look down at myself and realised I am still bare-chested. My eyes widen. "Oh I'm sorry, would you rather me put on a shirt or something?"

"Nah, leave it. It's gonna get soaked anyway, plus I'm enjoying the view," she admits her eyes trailing down my torso.

I become crimson red. If she had been here 3 weeks ago I doubt she would be saying the same thing. And she likes my body? Awesome!

"When Sharpay told me you shaved your head, I thought she was joking because she's just like that, but now I see she was right," she continues, looking at my hairdo.

She pushes herself out of the pool and walks toward me. I have a hard time not to look at her smoking body covered in water. I feel pleased when I realise I'm half an inch taller than her, an achievement since in freshmen year I was shorter than her. She brings her hands up to touch my hair softly. I don't even dare to breathe. She is so close, our nose are almost touching. If we were anymore close, we would be kissing.

"I think I like your hair better now," Gabriella declares, dropping her hands without stepping away, her eyes boring into mines.

"That's what my mom said," I blurted out before I could've stopped myself.

"I make you think of your mom?" she inquires, one eyebrow raised.

"No, that's not what I meant I just uh," I stammer, lamely.

She just bursts out laughing.

"I'm just playing with ya, don't worry," she says, eyes twinkling in joy. "You're cute, you know that?"

"Uh, thanks," I mumble, blushing furiously. "You too."

"Why thank you," she replies, cheerfully. "Do you want anything to drink or eat?" she inquires taking her towel to dry herself up and wraps it around herself before walking to the screen door.

"Um I'd like water if you don't mind."

"'Kay, come," she says motioning for me to follow her and I have no other choice but to oblige. "So tell me, new gardener, have you ever gotten sunburn, with being in the sun and all?" she questions, as we enter the kitchen.

I awkwardly sit down at the breakfast counter and I can't help but look at her firm behind as she stretches to take out two glasses from the cabinet. Shit what am I doing? Quickly I look away, before she would see where I was looking.

"Nah, I'm not out in the sun long enough plus there are many trees to provide me good enough shade," I reply, not feeling worthy at all in that big house of hers.

"Do you put sunscreen at all?" she asks placing a glass of water with ice in front of me, as she takes a sip of hers.

"I don't really have time plus I always forget," I say gulping quickly the liquid.

"It's really bad for the skin. You can get cancer if you're not careful enough," she states, frowning slightly. "Wait here."

I confusedly just watch her disappear from the kitchen. What is she doing? However this question was answered when she comes back with a tube of lotion.

"Here," Gabriella says, handing it to me. "I always feel bad when people work out in the sun all day without being protected. My grandfather has a skin problem and can't really go out in the sun anymore, so yeah," she explains sheepishly.

"It's absolutely no problem, thanks for looking out for me," I say, grateful applying some on my torso and stomach before doing my calves.

"Here, I'll do your back," she suggests, taking it from the counter to squeeze some out in her palms.

She goes behind me and applied some on my shoulders, my neck, my back, my lower back and it took all my might not to moan out loud. It just feels so good. Her fingers are absolutely magical, it feels like a massage.

"Enjoying it?" she inquires, smirking.

"Hell yeah, you're so good."

She did my arms, my hands and finally my face. For years now I've dream of the day she would touch me like that and damn, it's amazing.

"Now, you're good to go," she declares, washing her hands in the sink.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

After that we just went outside talking as I continued my job while she was lounging in the pool. I liked it, I really did. When I took this job never in a million years I would've thought that I would have any sort of contact with her and today I got both. I can die happy now.

"Hey, you know what? I think I've hold you up longer than you're job requires so, why don't you finish those bushes tomorrow and go work for my neighbours? I mean, I don't want you to end your shift at night time because of me," she states.

"Yeah, um are you sure? Because I don't mind just talking to you," I say shyly.

I don't want to sound clingy but I don't want this to end just yet. I think she sees my disappointment because she just smiles and say:

"I don't mind either, but you know what? If you want, after your work we can go to McDonald's or something, my treat," she suggests.

I perk up. Is she really serious?

"Um you don't have to hang out with me if you don't want to," I mutter.

"I want to," she says simply. "But if you're too tired, then we can always do it another time."

"No, it's fine, see ya tonight," I grin, picking up my stuff to do the next house.

The rest of the day went by quickly because I was in a daze. I can't believe it. Today I've talked to the girl of my dream and we had a nice conversation something I've always wished for in the past 3 years. Today she passed a hand through my hair, touched my hands, my face and our noses were almost touching, exactly how I saw it in my dreams, except that she did it all without being my girlfriend of course. Today she checked me out. Today she suggested another hang out. Today is the best day of my life.

"What are you so smiley about?" Mr. Clarke asks, amusement written all over his face as I am taking care of his small garden in his backyard.

"Oh nothing, except I've just talked to the beautiful girl I've had a crush on for 3 years and we're going to hang out tonight!" I feel like shouting. I am just that happy.

However I don't say that, instead I reply, trying to tone down my grin a little: "Oh, it's just such a beautiful day that it affects my mood somehow."

"Sure and this has nothing to do with Carlos' daughter who just came back and who happens to be your age right?" he says, slyly, making me freeze.

"Um, how how do you know that?" I splutter feeling my cheeks get warm again.

"Now don't get all shy on me! I think you kids are cute. I know because I had to give back Carlos something I borrowed and saw you guys close to each other by the pool," he explained.

I cough, embarrassed and dig out another dead flower.

"Um what part did you see?" I ask nervously.

"The part where she was touching your hair and you were blushing like a schoolgirl," Mr. Clarke states, smiling big.

I groan inwardly, if he would've smiled any bigger, his whole face would've cracked in half.

"I was not… blushing like a schoolgirl," I retort.

"Yes you were on the verge of fainting too by the look of it," he chuckles and I gave him a stiff smile in response. "How long have you had a crush on the young Montez?"

I choked on my saliva. Am I that obvious?

"Don't even deny it Troy. It's pretty obvious by the shy glances you were sending her way and the blush you had almost permanently when you talked to her."

"I… 3 years, 10 months and 6 days," I answer sheepishly.

"Whoah, you really got it bad," the old man whistles.

"Yeah, I don't know I just… I don't know."

"It surprises me that you haven't asked her out after all these years."

"I can't. We don't really run in the same circle, plus she's so much more beautiful than me," I say timidly.

"Are you kidding? From the little I saw, she seemed as much under your spell as you are under hers. I mean, getting close to you, touching your hair and that smile she gave you? Well if those aren't signs that she was flirting to you, then I don't know what is."

That can't be right. He's an old man after all. Possibly flirting from his days is different than ours, right?

**Sorry for the long wait, my computer is under reparations and I just came back from camp. ****As you've probably noticed, this story will unfold with a chapter of the present, followed by a chapter of a flashback, which will give you guys the chance to see how that summer really changed Troy. **

**Anyways, review please. **


	5. Chapter 2

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter four

October 7th, 2009

Walking into the school gym, I feel myself becoming nervous as I clung onto my girlfriend's hand tightly. The doors close behind us in a loud bang and everyone's heads turn to us. I swallow harshly.

"I'll uh, I'll go change alright," I say to Gabriella my mouth dry.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go sit on the bleachers over there," she replies, not at all fazed by the attention.

I hastily open the door to the boys' locker room and feel relieve. It is finally the day of the try-outs. Truthfully for the past two weeks I haven't really trained or anything like that since I know our school's basketball team will accept anyone as long as they know how to throw a ball and run. For some schools, sports is the way to go to be popular but East High is different I guess since it doesn't change your status if you're on a team or not. Especially if you're on the basketball team. It's not that our team sucks, it's just that they never reach semi-finals and they lose most of the time.

I put on a white t-shirt and blue baggy shorts, tie my shoe laces and I'm ready to go. When I enter the gym again, I look around and realise I have no reason to feel shy since there is only like 12 other guys trying-out (the team needs 6 other players, since all of them graduated) and on there aren't that many people that came to watch either. As soon as she sees me, Gabriella separates herself from a few of her friends on the bleachers and comes toward me.

"Nervous?" she inquires.

"Did you bring anything?" I question.

"Huh?" she retorts, confused.

"If you get bored. Did you bring anything to do if you get bored?"

I kind of feel uneasy about her just wasting her time watching me trying out. It just occurred to me right now that she might get bored but will refuse to leave 'cause she's a good girlfriend.

"I'm not gonna get bored," Gabriella states.

"Well, you might. So did you? 'Cause if you don't, I have my I-Pod in my locker, and uh, some uh, line papers if you want to like draw."

"I'm not gonna get bored," she repeats.

"You don't know that!"

"Troy, I think you need to relax. Your try-outs are going to go well," she says calmly placing her hands on my shoulders. "But if you must know, I have my I-Phone, a book and my homework in my purse."

"Good. Now I think it's about to begin so."

"Good luck," she says reaching up to peck me on the lips.

I take a deep breath and made my way to the circle where the other guys were around the Coach.

"'Kay boys, first of all thanks for showing up. I'm pleased to see so many of you here today. Right now, you'll start warming up by doing 3 laps around the gym and then when you're done, you come back here."

I can tell I'm gonna like this man. He reminds me of my coach from little league baseball. I run easily around the gym and am one of the first to finish. When the last guy arrives, Coach speaks up:

"What you're gonna do next is you guys will all line up in front of that basket over there and one by one you're gonna make free throws. Just to see what you guys are able to do."

That's pretty easy. I honestly thought this try-out thing was going to be way harder than this. As I'm waiting for my turn, I watch in amazement how these guys throw the balls. Man, some just majorly sucks. Even the Coach is shaking his head in disbelief. When it's my turn I catch the ball he's giving me and easily sunk in the ball.

"Good job," Coach praises.

I run back behind the line and we do this for another round before Coach calls it quit. I still am in shock at how clueless these guys are when it comes to throwing a basketball.

"Now, you're just gonna play a game so I can watch how you do with others and stuff."

He then proceeds in dividing the group in two and I notice that the two teams are pretty balanced. I am kind of nervous 'cause I've never played with other guys before. Sure, I know that I'll have to pass the ball and block our opponents, but usually all I'm used to doing is making free throws in my backyard.

I follow the others of my team as they all stepped near the center where one guy from our team and one guy from the other face each other. Coach throws the basketball in the air and my teammate manages to throw it in my direction. I grab it and start dribbling, my knees shaking all the while. What do I do? What do I do? I guess I must've hesitated too long because one guy takes the ball and runs back to the other side. Shit. I sprint as fast as I can, seeing as he's about to shoot. Luckily he misses.

"Rebound!" screams Coach.

Huh? Is that a form of technique or whatever? Either way I ignore him and just grab the ball, running back to the other side. I pass it to Tim, one of my team, because he's available and is actually a good runner. And I sprint to the basket so he can pass it back. He does and I shoot.

"YEAAHH GO TROYY!" All the guys jumps, even Coach, at this sudden outburst.

I turn my head and see my girlfriend standing up on the bleacher, arms in the air. I smile.

I have my own cheerleader.

For the next 15 minutes we continue to play and it's starting to bug me that I don't know the rules because several times the Coach screams some terms and I don't get them and I end up committing errors. I ended up scoring three more baskets though, so all in all, it didn't go that bad.

"Alright, so the list will be posted this Friday, thanks you all for coming."

And we leave to go change and for some of us, to go take a shower. When I walk out the locker room, I am greeted by the awaiting arms of my girlfriend. Who, by the way, has screamed every single time I scored.

"You were so good!" Gabriella exclaims.

"And you were adorable. You made some guys quite envious by the way."

"Well, I couldn't help it. I was just so proud of you, babe," she says, her eyes twinkling in joy.

"I love you, you know that?" I grin before capturing her lips in a sweet kiss.

After a while, someone shoves me a little, making us separate. I grab my girl by the waist to stop her from losing her balance and glance back to see Wyatt, a guy who was on my team, smirking.

"Do you mind?" I question.

"Hey, why you complaining? I was just saving you from getting your ass kicked by Coach 'cause you had sex in his gym," he jokes.

"Get lost," I huff, joking too.

"Okay, fine. I get it. But just so you know, this is the last time I look out for you," he says dramatically, walking away.

I laugh to myself quietly.

"So, you gotta teach me the rules because I really didn't understand anything the Coach was yelling," Gabriella declares.

"Really? But you seemed so aware with all the cheering and stuff."

"Well, I'm not _that_ dumb. I mean, I know I could never go wrong when you scored but my knowledge in basketball stops there."

"Well, I gotta tell you something too. I didn't have a clue what Coach was saying either," I admit.

Her eyes widen.

"Then we should reunite this week-end to figure out the mystery that is basketball. Especially since you're going to be a basketball player."

"I'm not on the team, Gab," I say, amusedly.

"Yet. You're not on the team yet. Just you wait until Friday."

"Alright then, if this happens, it's going to be a date."

October 8th, 2009

I take a bite of my sandwich, bored out of my mind. So, ever since the incident with Chad at the skate ramp, I kind of have no friends. The only kind of contact we've had was when they glared at me the day after and Jason flicked me off. Even if they did not clearly state that our friendship was over, I know it is. I guess it was over since this summer.

So here I am, in the music room, alone. I know it sounds pathetic, but that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. Oh, I forgot to mention, Gabriella doesn't know. I know, this just adds to the list of things I haven't told her, but I just… don't want to tell her. I have my reasons.

Oh damn, someone's opening the door. I suck in my breath and try to make myself appear invisible. A blonde gets in the room. Hey. I know that blonde.

"Shar? What are you doing here?" I question.

Oh my gosh, I'm soo stupid. Way to give yourself away Bolton.

"I left my notebook last period," Sharpay says slowly. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be with your friends or something?"

"Um, no."

"And why not?" she asks, eyes narrowed. "Didn't you and Gabi established days or something? Like Mondays and Wednesday were spent together and whatever?"

"Actually it's Mondays and Thursdays," I reply.

"Same diff. So, tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I'm eating my lunch."

I hope my answers discourage her, because I sure don't wanna answer. I mean, she's my girlfriend's best friend, not my diary.

"No, really."

"Yeah, really. I'm eating a sandwich," I say, lifting it to show her.

"Does it have anything to do with you punching Chad a couple of weeks ago?"

My stomach drops.

"How… how do you know that?" I ask.

"Well one, words travel fast around this school and two, you had to be blind to miss the black eye Chad had."

"Does… does Gabriella knows?" I inquire, softly.

If she does, I feel like a jerk. I mean, her boyfriend didn't even tell her he had punched his best friend and she had to learn it from the gossip mill? Crap.

"No. Because she doesn't think it's true. Because she believes you will tell her one day when you'll be ready. Because she believes you."

Ouch. Hearing this is like a punch in the guts. Sharpay sure is blunt.

"Gabriella is naïve, people take advantage of her and I look out for her. I know that if you tell her you have two hearts instead of one she'll believe you, without a doubt. Because she loves you and she trust you. And if you have any intention of hurting her, or hiding something, trust me, I won't hesitate in tearing you down, even if it means losing her friendship. So Bolton, you better not be fucking with her, you hear me?"

I nod; my throat is dry. I feel like such an ass.

"Look, if you tell me the reason why you're hiding stuff from her and it sounds right by me, then I won't tell her."

I sigh and close my eyes.

"I don't want her to know that her boyfriend's a loser," I whisper.

There, I said it. All that has been on my mind ever since school started again.

"What do you mean?" Sharpay asks, gently, sitting beside me.

"I mean, I don't have any friends, the sport's team I want to be part of loses most of their games and… I saw Kelsi getting murdered and didn't do anything except call the cops," I end, miserably.

"Troy, he would've killed you even if you would have tried. You couldn't do anything."

"I know but I could've done something! I could've but I didn't."

"This doesn't make you a loser. And I truly believe that Gabriella would understand if you tell her."

"I don't want her to take pity on me," I declare. "I just… I just want to be worthy of her."

I look down, her gaze being too much for me to handle. I don't like showing this side of me to her, to anyone really.

"Do you remember the guys you met this summer? Brent, Mike and the others?" she inquires.

"Yeah."

I'm confused.

"Well, you seemed to like hanging out with them back then, so what do you think of trying it out here?"

Why not?

"Sure, that sounds alright. Better than being here anyway."

"Good. Come with me."

We both get up and I confusedly follow her as she makes her way outside, to the school's back yard.

"I sure can't help you with the Kelsi thing or the basketball, but I think I can help you become less lonely," she declares.

We continue walking toward a bunch of guys playing soccer on the field. I recognise all the popular guys.

"Hey, guys!" Sharpay yells out, attracting their attention. "Mind if someone else joins you?"

"Oh really Sharpay? I never imagined you would be up for a game of soccer!" Scott jokes.

"I'm not talking about me, duh," she says rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, sure. Troy, you're on my team," Mike replies, grinning.

"Awesome," I answer. "Thanks Shar."

"You owe me one," she states, walking away.

I smile before running over to the other guys. They might not be my friends of forever, but for now this is just enough. More than enough actually.

**Hi! I'm sorry about the long wait but I just started a new school and wasn't feeling up to updating. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed last chapter and those who have reviewed my one-shot. You guys rock! **

**Review please. **


	6. Flashback 3

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter five

July 11th, 2009

It's finally my day off! I plan on sleeping until noon and just staying in my boxers playing X-box all day. Unfortunately my plan of sleeping in is interrupted when my phone starts to ring obnoxiously loud. Groaning, I grab my cell phone and brings it to my ear. Without even bothering to check the caller ID I yawn, groggily:

"Hello?"

"Troy? Is that you?" a hesitant voice is heard.

Immediately I jerk up, recognising _her_ voice, no longer tired.

"Oh Gabriella, hi!" I cringe realising I sound as eager as a little kid on Christmas.

"Did I wake you up?" she inquires, curiously.

"Yeah, but it's alright. I had to wake up at one point right?" I say, lightly.

After that first encounter Monday, like planned we went to McDonalds and I was pleasantly surprised to see her order a Big Mac instead of a salad. We talked for two hours in that greasy restaurant and it was great. Yes, at first it was kind of awkward, but as the night progressed, it became really easy to make conversation with her. The days that followed I would make a point to go work in her backyard, even if I didn't have to (I have other neighbourhoods to do, after all), she would come join me, lounging beside the pool or in it, depending on the days and we would talk some more.

"I'm so sorry," Gabriella states, sheepishly. "But I just wanted to know, are you doing anything today?"

"Nah," I lie. "Nothing important, anyway."

"Do you want to hang out? I mean, like going somewhere?" she asks.

"With you?" I make sure, not exactly believing that _she_ would want to hang out with _me_.

"Well yeah, but if you'd rather not, then," she starts in an incredulous tone.

"No! I want to hang out with you, I mean just being in your presence during work is awesome and talking to you is like a dream and you're amazing," I ramble but interrupted myself upon hearing her giggle. "Yeah, I want to hang out with you," I declare, sheepishly.

"Alright then, come by my house whenever you can okay? Oh and bring your swim trunks."

"Okay, see ya there."

"Yep." And she hungs up.

"Yesss!" I yell out once I had closed my cell phone, pumping my fist in the air.

I am extremely happy; never would I have thought that she would want to hang out with me outside of my work. I quickly get in the shower, brush my teeth, put on my black and gray swim trunk that kind of looks like real shorts with a graphic white tee and my gray beanie and I'm good to go. Since my mom is out, I don't have any other choice than to ride my skateboard. In 5th grade, the guys and I used to hang out with Jason's older brother and he taught us how to ride one. I know it might take longer to go to her house that way, but at least it's a beautiful day.

"Hey Troy!"

I set my converse clad right foot down on the pavement to stop. I smile as I see my old Coach coming my way but frown a little when I realise he is using a cane.

"Hey Coach Rivers, how are you?" I ask, taking off my beanie to wipe my forehead.

"I'm good, well as good as it gets with a can that is," Coach replies, grinning. "The only thing that bothers me though is that I unfortunately can't coach the little league baseball this summer."

My stomach churns. A summer without a little league baseball? Shit, I used to dream all year long about summer just because I would be playing. My left hand in my beige mit, running through the bases with everybody cheering while I did so, diving in the dust-fill field to score… that is my childhood.

"Ah man, that sucks, little league baseball is my best childhood memory," I declare, sincerely.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he states.

I wait patiently, knowing what was coming.

"Troy, you've always been my best player and I always thought you could make it big if you would've continued," he starts.

"I could've but ever since I broke my arm, I never really thought of getting back into it," I admit.

"Have you ever considered going back to the field as a coach?" he questions.

My eyes widen. I was so not waiting for that.

"Um, me?"

"Yes, you. Like I said, you've always been a good leader and a hell of a good player but most of all, I always saw you helping out your new teammates. You may not think it, but you would be perfect for the job," he elaborates.

I ponder about it. Would I really be a good coach? It's one thing to help out teammates, it's another to Coach an entire team.

"I… I can give it a try," I say slowly.

Coach Rivers smiles and with his right hand slaps me on the shoulder, pleased.

"I knew I could count on you Troy, how much do you want each weeks? 10 bucks, 15?"

"Ehm what?"

"Well, you didn't really think I would drag you into this coaching business without paying you now did you?"

"Coach, I am not going to let you pay me to take over little league!" I protest.

Since little league is for anyone who wants to participate, it is therefore free which means the Coach don't usually gets paid.

"It's going to be 2 days a week plus a tournament on Sunday," he continues. "Come by my house when you're not busy and I'll give you all the details," he said starting to walk back. "Oh and by the way, 5 bucks is my last offer, so you can't argue!"

"Will do, Coach!" I say back, knowing I can't convince him otherwise.

My eyes widen as I realise something. I'm late for Gabriella! I immediately place my beanie back on my head, jump on my skateboard and hurriedly make my way to her house. I know, we never established a specific hour, but still. I go straight through stop signs and one red light when finally, I'm there. Panting slightly, with my skateboard under my arm, I ring the doorbell. Seconds later the door opens.

"Oh hello Troy, didn't think you were working today," Mr. Montez greets.

"Um hi Mr. Montez, I uh." Shit, what am I supposed to say? What if she doesn't want her father to know about us hanging out?

"Dad, it's okay, he's here for me," Gabriella declares, appearing at the doorframe.

My saviour! As per usual she looks extremely beautiful with a simple tank top and short shorts that shows off her amazing toned legs. Her hair is up in a high ponytail showing off even more of her tanned flawless skin. I licked my now dry lips. Damn, what I would give to kiss that skin.

"Ah, I didn't know you were hanging out with this pest, Troy," Mr. Montez remarks to me, lightly.

"Oh hush up," his daughter retorts elbowing her father.

My client only laughs before going back inside, leaving us.

"Anyways, hey," she grins softly.

"Hey," I say back.

She places a hand on my chest to push me away a little before coming out herself. My heart still skips a beat whenever we touch. Even if the whole week physical contact has been usual, I don't think I'll ever stop feeling like this.

"So, I was thinking we could go to the beach or something," she suggests. "It's a beautiful day out and I haven't been since like last year, that is if you don't mind of course."

"I'd love to, I haven't been there since a long time," I admit.

"Awesome," she grins.

She goes to ask her dad to drive us to the beach in his BMW. I am incredibly stunned, even if it's an old people's car. Once we are there, we take out the towels and made our way to the salty water. As soon as it comes in view, I realise that I know most of the faces there. I shyly let Gabriella get in front of me, as I discover they are all popular people.

"Gabi!"

"Shar!" she exclaims enthusiastically, dropping her stuff on the ground as the blonde hugs her forcefully.

"I missed you!" Sharpay squeals.

"Me too."

"Gabriella!" another girl yells, running full force to tackle both of them.

"Hey Tay," my friend replies before pulling away. She slips her arm around my bicep and says: "By the way guys, this is Troy, if you haven't recognised him."

I feel myself blushing as I feel everyone's eyes on me.

"Damn Troy is that you?" Sharpay inquires, lifting her sunglasses so she could inspect me better. "Where'd you get those muscles?" she asks motioning to my arms.

"Gardening," I say plainly, mocking the fact that she has laughed at me because of it two weeks ago.

"Is that your date Gab?" a guy named Todd asks from where he is sitting.

"Yep," she answers hesitantly, looking at me to gauge my reaction.

As soon as she confirms it, everybody greeted me properly.

"I hope you don't mind," she says sheepishly, as we are making our way to put our stuff beside her best friend.

"Mind what?" I ask confusedly.

"That I told them you were my date. I kind of didn't want to tell you in case you might not want to go with me anymore."

I smile; she's so cute when she's nervous. And damn, they can call me her date any day!

"Nah, I don't mind don't worry. It's an honour for me to be your date. Lots of guys would kill to be in my place right now," I say faking cockiness, making her laugh.

"I'm glad, you feel that way," she teases.

And then, my breath caught in my throat. She takes off her tank top revealing her black and pink bikini top along with her toned stomach. Just the sight of her nice breasts and her belly button ring makes me drool in delight. Damn she's so hot. She then proceeds to take off her short shorts, revealing a matching bottom and it was just too much. I look down and discover in horror that I have a hard-on. Shit. I take off my shirt in an instant before dashing to the Ocean before she saw it too. Once I'm in the cool water, I feel myself become normal again.

"Hey not cool, you didn't even wait for me," Gabriella whines before jumping on my back, making me stumble a little at the surprise.

"I'm sorry, you were just taking too long," I lie, trying to forget the fact that her breasts are currently pressed against my back.

Damn her and her hot bod that makes me go crazy.

"Or is it because you didn't want the world to see that little Troy was making an appearance?" she says in my ear, before jumping down.

I freeze and felt my stomach drop.

"Um. Uh what?" I stammer, swallowing harshly, avoiding her gaze.

She just starts to laugh really hard.

"I just saw for a little bit, but like as soon as I realised it was there, you ran to the water," she declares.

"I'm so sorry," I mumble, feeling incredibly warm.

"Meh, you're a guy I can't really blame you for getting turned on at the sight of a girl's half-naked body," she shrugs.

I still wouldn't look at her eyes, this is too embarrassing.

"Snap out of it!" she exclaims before pushing me, making me fall into the water.

"Hey!" I protest, getting up quickly, spiting water.

She just giggles and when she realised I was going to give her the same treatment, she starts to run away.

"Come back here you little demon!" I yell.

We start to zigzag through the other people who are in the water also before I finally catch up with her. She splashes water at me, trying to distract me but it didn't work because I manage to get my hands on her anyway.

"Don't do it Bolton," she says.

I have my arms around her waist and am holding her against me so she couldn't move. The water is at our knees, so we aren't that deep.

"Oh and why shouldn't I again?"

She just tries to push me off, laughing in the process but I succeed to throw her in the water.

"You suck," she declares, emerging, dripping wet.

"Thank you," I say simply.

"Well aren't you going to help me up?" she questions.

I roll my eyes, but lend her a hand anyways. She takes it… before pulling it forcefully, making me fall in the water too.

"You fell for it!" she squeals. "The oldest trick in the book and you fell for it!"

I just raise an eyebrow at her, unimpressed. She is such a kid sometimes which just makes her even more adorable.

"Yo, lovebirds! Wanna play beach volley?" hollers a kid named Jake.

That guy is a junior and has serious muscles. As do all the other guys on this beach. I don't get why Gabriella is with me.

"What do you say?" she asks, looking at me.

"Why not?" I shrug.

She smiles at me and helps me getting up before we start to make our way out of the water where a net is laid out and numerous people are already getting ready to play.

"Let's divide the cute couple, yeah?" Hugh suggests, checking out Gabriella as we got nearer.

"Sure, but Gabs on our team," Jake replies.

"Alright, come here little guy," the other team captain says motioning to me.

I go over to them, grudgingly. I wanted to be on Ella's team.

"So how long have you and Gabi been dating?" Brent inquires as I stood beside him.

"Oh, we're not," I start.

"Oh sorry, how long have you been fucking?" he corrects, smirking widely.

"Don't listen to him, he's just being an ass 'cause he went out with her and she didn't want to sleep with him," a guy stepped in. "By the way, my name's Mike."

"I'm Troy," I state smiling at him gratefully.

"Hey, I was just making a joke, no sweat man, I'm over that whole thing with Gab anyway," Brent declares.

"Are we gonna start this game or what?" Jake shouts from the other side.

Getting in position, I watch as the people from the other team were trying to distract Mike who was trying to serve by dancing and singing wildly. It was actually a pretty funny sight to see. As the ball was exchanged from the two sides of net, I found myself having the most fun I've had in a lonnnggg time. It was relaxed, it was chill, whenever we would score, our team would do this kind of cheer dance/Macarena and sing 'Beat it' by Michael Jackson. The guys on my team are cool, I wouldn't mind hanging with them sometimes.

"Got it!" Gabriella yells, diving for the ball and successfully threw it over the net.

"T, it's yours!" Hugh screams.

I try to run forward and hit it before it could hit the ground, but I was too late. Gabriella's team was shaking their hips in circular motion while singing YMCA (their cheer). I pick up the ball and expected to turn around to face glares coming from my teammates, but instead I see raised eyebrows.

"Not cool dude, not cool," Tyler declares. "Letting the ball hit the ground to impress the chick, dude, not cool."

"True, but I would've done the same," Brent admits bluntly.

I'm starting to realize that I have absolutely no reason to be intimidated by those guys. They're chill and the only thing that differs from my gang to theirs is the fact that they are incredibly built.

**Sorry for the long wait. Hopefully you guys are still with me. **

**Tell me what you thought of this chapter (or story in general). **


	7. Chapter 3

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter six

October 10th, 2009

"I think rebound means grabbing the ball after one misses the shot," I declare.

"Really? I think it means to grab the ball before the other player does," Gabriella replies.

We are currently in her living room, watching a basketball game on T.V. trying to figure out the rules like we had planned. Evidently, I've made the team.

"Oh yeah? Well I think it means both!" I jokingly argue.

"Whatever," my girlfriend rolls her eyes.

The ball rolls off the court and the whistle is blown. One of the player on the other team grabs the ball and stands behind the line, waiting for his teammates to get in place.

"See, I still don't get that," Gabriella remarks. "Why do they all get in line? And why do they only separate themselves once the guy who has the ball, smacks it?"

"I think it's a form of game strategy," I answer. "'Cause look, as soon as the guy 'smacks the ball' they all separate quickly and take their positions trying to get the ball."

"Gee, this game's complicated! And to think you're gonna have to memorize all the rules and know them by heart."

I smile at her cute expression.

"You really are amazing Gabriella Montez," I declare looking into her eyes. "I don't know many girls who would actually sit with their boyfriends as they try to figure out how to play a sport."

"Well, what can I say? With all the screw ups in the world, God had to make it up by creating a perfect being," she jokes.

"I see someone's ego's a little inflated tonight," I say.

"It's your fault," she shrugs. "You're the one who keeps on complimenting me."

I roll my eyes and messes up her hair.

"Hey!" she protests smacking my hand away.

"What's wrong babe? I was just trying to feel your big head," I grin.

"Shut up."

October 13th, 2009

My hands roam over her tan stomach as she passes her fingers through my short hair. I continue my way up until I reach her bra and separate from her mouth to take her shirt off.

"Someone's eager today," she grins teasingly.

Damn, she looks hot just lying there in her navy bra, on my bed. My jeans are too tight; they have been ever since we started making-out actually.

"I'm always eager when it comes to you," I state, before leaning down again to attach our lips.

My hands caresses her back, her waist and touches her breasts through the fabric. I pull away to start kissing her neck, making her moan in pleasure.

"Oh God, that feels so good," she declares, massaging the nape of my neck in slow tantalizing manner.

I taste the curve of her breast, making her gasp. She grabs my hair before pulling me up, to attach our lips. Her hands slip under my shirt onto my back and she takes it off before bringing me close to her again. I expertly unhook her bra, something that used to be oh so hard before and cupped her soft breasts.

"Troy? Are you home?"

I pull away as I heard my mom's voice echoing through our home. Oh no.

"Um yeah, in my room," I answer, trying not to sound as breathless as I am.

We fumble with our shirts, trying to cover ourselves up and I go sit behind my desk, where my unfinished homework lays. Because that's really what we have been doing. That is, before we got carried away. The door opens, and my mom peeks her head in.

"Oh hey Gabriella," she greets, to my girlfriend who is sitting cross-legged on my bed, her own homework in front of her.

"Hi, Mrs. Bolton," she answers.

She sounds so innocent. I have to stop myself to smirk because what we had been doing was far from innocent.

"Do you want anything mom? Me and Gab have homework to do," I declare.

"Are you staying over for dinner Gabriella?"

"Yeah, that is if you don't mind."

"You know, I never do. You make my son so happy, you know."

I blush.

"Mom!" I hiss.

"Alright, alright I'll leave you two now."

She goes away, leaving the door wide open.

"Yeah, I make you happy in more ways than one," Gabriella whispers, a twinkle in her eyes.

"I believe you were enjoying it too, Ms. Montez," I wiggle my eyebrows.

"Shut up," she giggles.

Some people might think that me and Gabriella have done the whole thing, but truth is, even if I want to have sex with her every time I see her, I know we're both not ready for this yet. We're only at second base after all and I am determined not to skip any bases.

But I know I'll lose my virginity with her. I won't have it otherwise.

October 15th, 2009

I'm starting to get entangles into my secrets. Secrets, as in things I didn't tell my girlfriend. Before yesterday she never knew I was spending lunch playing soccer with the popular guys and she wouldn't have if she and the other girls hadn't come out during lunch to watch us play. Needless to say so, it was pretty awkward when I came face to face with her on the field. But before she could've asked me, the bell rang. And I didn't see her for the whole day.

Today, I meet up with her and she looks at me differently. There's just something different in her eyes. The spark that I usually see is missing.

"Hey," I greet bending down to kiss her.

She just turns her cheek and I end up kissing it instead. I am hurt. This never happened before.

"What's wrong, pretty girl?" I inquire, cupping her face.

"Nothing," Gabriella answers pulling away from my touch.

Now, something really is wrong.

"Gab…"

"Hey lovebirds!" Sharpay interrupts, coming over to us.

I sigh, annoyed. This is bad baadd timing.

"Hey, Shar," Gabriella greets, trying to muster up a smile.

"I need your help," the blonde declares. "As you know, in December there's a talent show going on and yesterday we had the auditions, only to come to the conclusion that we need more performers."

"Since when are you involved in the theatre department?" I question.

"Since they told me I had the qualities required to become a great actress and made me their president."

I roll my eyes.

"You know, it's just because you're the most popular girl in the school that you're president right?" I say drily.

"Oh, trust me, I know. But still, it feels great to be president of something. Anyways, if you guys join, I'm sure most of the students will show up."

"What do you want us to do?" Gabriella asks, confusedly.

"Sing of course!"

I groan.

"Gab, you have a great voice and Troy, well, I bet you too. So please guys, come on," she pouts.

From the corner of her eyes, I see her looking at me expectedly and I know she knows I still owe her something for the soccer thing.

"Oh, I don't know, Shar, Troy and I don't really feel at ease on stage," Gabriella declares, looking at me sideways.

"No, you can count on me Sharpay," I reply.

"Ah, thank you Troy."

I nod and she walks away. I turn toward my girl to see her looking down and I'm pretty sure I see her bottom lip quivering.

"I... I thought you said you had stage fright," she says miserably.

"Well, yeah. But she's our friend and I want to help," I answer trying to catch her eye. "Gabriella, what's wrong?"

"I'm gonna go to class," she declares, without even casting me a glance.

"Wait," I say, grabbing her elbow. "Gabriella, you're starting to scare me, please tell me what's wrong."

"I'll see ya later Troy."

She took her arm away from my grip and walks away. Leaving me confuse as hell.

The day went on and I didn't see Gabriella since this morning. I don't know what's wrong with her, but it is seriously worrying me. Which is why I corner Sharpay at the end of the day, in the girls' bathroom.

"You know, this is the girl's toilet right?" Sharpay questions drily.

"I need to know, Sharpay. Please tell me what's wrong with my girlfriend," I plead, ignoring her.

"Honestly, I don't know. I haven't had much luck getting it out of her either. All I know is that she's been depressed all day."

Luckily for me, there aren't any other girls in the washroom.

"Not even the tiniest of ideas?"

I'm desperate for even a hint of something.

"Troy, have you told her about Chad?" I'm confused by this question but shake my head in negative. "Have you told her anything close to what you told me last week in the music room?" I shake my head again and she sighs. "Troy!"

"What? It never came up, that's all," I defend.

I hear the sound of the bathroom door being open and I rush in the 'out of order' toilet to hide.

"Shar, are you there?" my girl's voice is heard.

"Yeah."

I hear her footsteps nearing.

"Are we alone?"

"Do you see anyone else?"

"I guess not."

"What's wrong girlie?" Sharpay asks softly. "You've been down all day."

"I… think Troy is hiding something from me."

My breath catches in my throat.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know, I mean. First there's the fact that he punched someone a few weeks ago and never told me who it was. Then there's the soccer thing which I discovered by Brent that this has been going on for weeks now. I know that I shouldn't get upset by this; I mean he's entitled to have his own life, but it's just that, he never mentioned it to me. Not once. And, during the summer he told me he had stage fright and would never get up in front of a crowd of people and all of a sudden, he… he just changes his mind. I mean, this doesn't sound right."

"Well, you gotta admit that because of Kelsi, you both changed a lot."

"I've lay off trying to push him into talking to me, figuring that he would tell me when he would be ready, but as time passes by, I'm starting to lose hope. Shar, I'm losing him and I don't know what to do."

I'm such an ass. It just breaks my heart to hear her sound so miserable.

"You know, I tried to bring it up two days ago at his house, and then he just kissed me. And I got so caught up into the kiss that I, uh, kind of forgot. Anyway, all I'm trying to say is, he knows I'm suspecting something and is ready to use sneaky tricks to distract me."

"He may be having a hard time right now. But, Gab, that guy's in love with you. Head over heels; he would do anything to make you happy."

"Maybe he does, but he sure doesn't trust me."

"Gab…"

"No, really, it's fine. I just… I have to go; I'm going to Troy's tonight. Maybe he'll talk to me then."

"Gabi, when he decides to tell you, and I know he will, just hear him out alright?"

"Don't worry, at this point, I'm ready to take anything he's willing to give me."

I wince. This is a punch in the guts. When the door closes behind her, I come out.

"You need to talk to her Troy. You're losing her," Sharpay states drily.

As if I don't already know that.

"I know, I'm gonna tell her everything today," I answer, my throat still tight.

She nods and I leave to catch my bus. Luckily I get on just in time, because as soon as I get on, it leaves. I try to spot my girl and see her sitting in the last bench, looking out the window. I make my way toward her and when I'm beside her I bring her close. It is only then, that she acknowledges me. I lean in and kiss her on the lips. Thankfully, she doesn't push me away and even interlaces our fingers.

"I missed you today," I declare sincerely, resting my forehead against hers.

"Me too," Gabriella answers. "I'm glad I'm going home with you though."

"Yeah, about that, I think we need to talk."

I see something flash into her eyes. Hurt? Pain? Sadness? Nervousness? I don't really know, but whatever it is, I want it gone.

"Now?" she chokes out, taking her hand out of mine.

"No, at my house," I clarify.

She nods and turns away from me. This bus ride can't possibly last longer. When we're finally there, we get out and the walk to my house is made in silence. I would glance at her often, worried, but she wouldn't look at me, just keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. So when we're finally there, I'm relieved. I finally have the chance to explain my behaviour toward her. I open the door and she enters shoulders plumps.

"Now, we can finally talk," I say, once we are in my room.

"Can I call my dad first? So that, as soon as you're done with me, I won't have to stand in your house too long," she inquires, still looking down.

"Wait what?" I'm lost.

"You're breaking up with me aren't you? That's what you've been hiding from me for weeks huh? You don't love me anymore, right? Don't even try to deny it, I've realised."

Tears are running down her face now. I step closer and crush her against my chest, not letting go, even as she tries to push me off. Eventually she gives up, and let herself fall against me.

"I'm not breaking up with you Gabriella," I whisper. "I don't even know where that idea came from seriously. Gab, you're the best thing in my life right now and I would never want to lose you, ever. You should know this by now," I declare, stroking her hair gently.

"Then, why don't you talk to me? Why are you hiding stuff from me?"

Now, she's trying to push me again, but I just hold her tighter.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm going to come clean with you, so there are no more secrets between us," I state. "Now, dry your eyes, beautiful. I love you."

She looks up with her eyes still watery and I kiss her forehead.

"You have no idea how scared I was when you said that to me in the bus."

"What?"

"The 'we need to talk' thing. Gosh, Troy that's what people says right before breaking up with someone."

Oh. That's what caused her to become so down. I'm so dumb.

"I'm sorry, it never even occurred to me that it might sound that way," I chuckle.

"Not funny," she pouts, pushing me away and I stumble back, still laughing.

I'm relieved.

"Although, we do need to talk, just not _that_ kind of talk," I say, becoming serious again.

"Well, it can't be as bad considering you're not breaking up with me."

I smile and sit down on my bed, with her following suit.

"Well, I could say that this all started when I punched a guy, but really, it started in the very first day of the school year. Chad and the guys were always saying mean stuff about you, for whatever reason and then at the skatepark, I ended up punching Chad because he talked about you as if you were just a sex object. Yeah, that's right; the person I punched was my best friend."

I then proceeded to tell her everything from Sharpay finding me, our conversation about me being a loser in the music room, her introducing me to the guys that lunch and how I owed her. Through it all, she just kept silent and listened to me, carefully.

"Why didn't tell me any of this before? I would've understood," she inquires.

"I knew you would've. But I just didn't really want you to know you're boyfriend was a loser and wanted to become okay before telling you, because, I guess I didn't feel worthy of you."

"So, basically, you feel like you're unworthy because of me?"

"No, not because of you, but unworthy to be with you."

"That means the exact same thing!"

"Gabriella, I've got people to hang out with now, I came clean with you and things are alright."

"Do you still feel like I'm better than you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Do you, because of me, feel like a loser?"

"Well, yeah, but that's just because you're too awesome."

I have a feeling she's aiming toward something specific when she asks me those questions and whatever that is, it's starting to scare me.

"Troy…" she starts, her voice quivering. "I think we should breakup."

"Wait, what? I came clean with you, I thought that's what you wanted," I reply, as lost as ever.

"This relationship puts you down more than up. Because of me, your self-esteem is low. So low, you feel the need to lie to me so I don't see it," her eyes are becoming teary again.

"Gabriella, I'm sorry for hiding stuff from you, but please don't break up with me," I plead.

"I love you, but I'm not good to you," she declares, turning around to walk away, tears streaming down her face.

I catch her elbow.

"Please, don't do this to me, to us."

"I'm doing it for you."

I release her, in shock by the intensity of her revelation. My heart breaks as I hear the front door close behind her.

- HSM -

…**Is anyone still reading this story? If yes, then I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, but I've got school and some other ideas for other stories. **

**Also, gosh, this is embarrassing, but should I change this story to M-rated? Like should I include, hum, graphic scenes? **


	8. Flashback 4

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

**Author's note: Thanks for everyone who reviewed last chapter. 8 reviews f****or one chapter is just amazing. I decided to keep the rating to T, until M-rated scenes will be introduced (which shouldn't be too long). **

Chapter seven

July 22nd 2009

"Uh hi my name's Troy and I'll be your coach this season," I introduce myself.

All the little kids in front of me just turn their heads to stare at me as if I was an alien. To them I probably am. I mean they can clearly see that I'm not Coach Rivers. But seriously, I'm starting to get freaked out by their frowning faces and silent stares. I turn toward the bleachers and send Gabriella a puzzled look. I'm glad she had wanted to come with me for my first Coaching session. She shrugs confused also.

"When are we playing?" asks one of the kids, making me sigh in relief to know that that's what they were waiting for.

Of course, I should've known. I may have been in little league for years when I was younger, but doesn't mean I necessarily remember what happened first day of practice.

"Yeah, I want to play!" they all start chanting.

"And you will, after practicing a little bit. I mean, last summer is pretty far from now," I smile.

"But, I want to play now!" that same kid whines, making all the others join him.

"Tell you what, the faster you'll finish the warm-ups, the faster and longer we can start playing alright?" Gabriella sends me a thumbs-up, indicating I am doing a good job and I feel more confident. "So, first, I want you guys to run one lap around the field and then you'll come in a circle okay?"

They all nod and ran around. I smile, feeling more relaxed. I walk toward the bleachers where my crush is.

"So what do you think? Am I little league coach material?" I ask the brunette.

"Definitely," Gabriella nods. "Coach Bolton," she adds, ruffling my hair.

I smile and watch as the first few kids ended their laps, panting slightly.

"So do ya want to go grab an ice cream after?" I inquire.

"'Can't. I promised Mr. Nielson I would babysit his daughter at 1," she answers.

"I didn't know you were babysitting," I declare.

Not once in our multiple conversations had she ever mentioned this.

"I'm not usually. This time around, the old Nielson just barged in our home and 'requested' that I were to babysit his kid," she explains, not sounding all that happy.

"Is he paying you at least?"

"He said he will," she shrugs.

"Good," I reply.

I smile to her one last time before making my way toward my little group who were now all done running. I've made a deal with my gardening boss and asked him if I could start working in the afternoon on Wednesdays so I could coach little league. He accepted. Last week me and Gab posted fliers all over town to promote it and now, here I am, Coach of 25 kids between the ages of 5 and 8. Another guy is coaching the other age ranges. Coach Rivers thought I could start off by coaching the youngest.

"So I guess I'll start off by explaining the rules to those who weren't here last year," I start, taking advantage of their slightly out-of-breath condition.

I briefly told them the important rules, but soon I realized most weren't listening to me. They were kids after all; you couldn't hold their attentions for more than 5 minutes. I figured we'd start a friendly game and I'd go over the rules then.

"Can I have all of those who have been here last summer?" I ask.

They all stare at me blankly. This is harder than I thought. I spot a kid who looks to be about 7 and say:

"You, with the red shirt, what's your name?"

He looks surprised, but nonetheless answers 'Matty'.

"Is this your first time here?" I continue, more gently this time.

I don't want them to be scared of me after all. Matty shakes his head. I sigh in relief; I'm not completely oblivious, after all.

"Can you come here Matty?"

He immediately stands up and scurries over to where I'm standing. I ask him if he recognizes anybody from his team last year. With hesitation, he points to some other kids. They in turn, point out other of their former teammates and soon I have over a dozen kids beside me.

"See, those guys beside me?" I say to the little ones still on the ground. "When we're gonna start playing, I want you to watch what they do and learn from them okay?"

They nod shyly. I instruct them to start in the field and the experienced ones to the bat. So far, it's not too bad.

"You did so great today," Gabriella declares, once practice is over.

We are currently walking out the baseball field toward the ice cream parlour. I made the practice end earlier today because after 30 minutes of intense playing, my little ones could barely stand on their legs. Luckily most parents had arrived early, wanting to watch their children on their first day.

"Thanks, I'm really exhausted though," I respond. "Sucks that I still have gardening to do."

"Also sucks that you won't see me in my bikini today," she grins, making me laugh.

Oh, she doesn't know how bummed I really am about that.

"What makes you think you're the only half-naked girl I see during my shift?" I retort, trying to hide my smirk.

I chuckle when her mouth drops.

"No way. Who else Troy? Who else do you have the pleasure to ogle at?" Gabriella asks, grabbing my arm making me stop walking.

"Oh, just this tall blonde with big assets and her friends," I shrug, casually attempting to continue walking.

I laugh when she pulls on my arm again.

"Anything else you wanna know Gabriella?" I say, amusedly.

"Uh yeah! Did you do stuff with them?"

"Well, I mean, I talk to them and they sometimes tap my butt and stuff."

By now she is shell-shocked and speechless.

"B-Buut wha? Hein?" she stuttered.

"Oh, have I mentioned they often say I look like their grandson?"

She looks even more confused.

"Oh, and the youngest is like 70 years old?" I add, grinning big time.

I start laughing really loudly when she just hit my arm.

"You jerk, I thought you were serious!" Gabriella huffs, as we start to walk again.

"Don't worry, you're the only hot one on my shift Gabi," I assure her, making her roll her eyes.

"I don't get why you even took this gardening job if I'm the only 'hot' one," she mumbles.

I stay silent, pretending not to have heard her. She doesn't need to know I took this job because of her.

"Last one there pays," Gabriella says suddenly, dashing away quickly.

"Huh?" I ask confusedly.

That little demon. I take off after her.

"You're not playing fair Montez!" I yell after her, quickly catching up.

She looks over her shoulder and squeals, running faster. I was just about 5 feet from her when she got to the counter. I don't have enough time to break and crash right into her. She gasps as her back hits the counter harshly, my body against hers.

"Oh my Gosh Gabi, I'm so sorry," I say, pulling away, letting her space.

She winces in pain as she steps away from the hard wooden counter and into my arms.

"I'm sorry," I whisper against her hair, caressing her surely throbbing back.

"This is just like a movie."

We break away. And acknowledge the girl working at the ice cream parlour for the first time. She looks star struck. I keep an arm around my girl and pay for our ice creams. I do owe that to her after all.

"You guys are the most attractive couple I've seen in a long while," the girl working at the counter, whose name tag says Chantal, declares.

"Uh, thanks?" I say confusedly taking the two ice cream cones from her.

Gabriella having gone to sit at one of the table, I'm currently alone to face the overly emotional worker.

"No, I mean really. Your girlfriend's absolutely smoking, as in I'd go lesbian for her any day. And you are like one of the hottest guys I've ever seen."

I blush. Even if the girl's brain is probably affected by the heat, it is still flattering.

"Plus, you guys are the cutest thing ever," Chantal continues to gush.

"Well, thanks for the uh, ice creams. Uh, have a good day," I reply quickly before making my way toward my friend.

"What's wrong? You look like you've encountered the Boogeyman or something," Gabriella remarks, taking her ice cream.

"No, not the boogeyman but close. That girl working at the counter really freaked me out," I answer sitting beside her.

"Why? 'Cause she was constantly checking you out?" she says casually.

"Was she?"

"And drooling too," she nods, licking her strawberry flavoured ice cream.

I watch, mesmerized. Goddamn how can she make something as innocent as eating ice cream look so hot? I just feel like ripping her clothes off right there.

"Hello? Earth to Troy," she says, waving a hand in my face. "Your ice cream's melting."

Oh shit. I quickly lick the cone, trying to prevent it from going on my hand. Her giggles filling my ears.

"She said she'd go lesbian for you any day, you know," I state once I'm done.

"Did she?" Gabriella inquires, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yup. If you ask me, I think the heat burned off some of her brain cells," I reply.

"Why? You don't think I'm hot enough to make a girl want to change team?"

"No! That's not what I mean. You're really really sexy Gabi, don't think otherwise. Even if I were gay, I'd turn straight for you, you know. Even if I'd be a, uh, whale I'd still want to jump your…" I interrupt myself, blushing madly.

Gosh, what have I done? Luckily for me she just started to laugh really loudly.

"Oh God, you're so cute!" she says, once she calmed down.

I just rub the back of my neck, still very much embarrassed.

"It's definite; I never ever want you out of my life. Ever, you hear me Troy Bolton?" she declares, trying to look bossy, but failing miserably.

"As long as you'll want me, I'm yours," I say shyly.

"Ha, then sorry my dear, but you're stuck with me forever!" she exclaims.

I grin at her cute expression. This doesn't sound bad at all.

-HSM-

**Next flashback Kelsi will finally be introduced. Hopefully this chapter didn't bore you guys. **

**Reviews would be much appreciated. **


	9. Chapter 4

The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

**Author's note: As usual, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter**!

Chapter eight

November 16th, 2009

"Bolton takes the ball, he dribbles trying to escape from the big monster he calls his teammate; the time is running out," I mumble under my breath, making the guys around me chuckle. "He looks around trying to spot an available player."

"I'm open!" Wyatt yells.

Without bothering to comment, I chuck the ball at him and darts off to the other end of the court. This commentary thingy is annoying me, and unfortunately we all have to do it at one point or another. Coach's rules. He wants us to, not only be able to play well, but also know how to describe our actions. Plus he says it helps our concentration. Oh and also, we have to use the third person narration when speaking about ourselves. Fun.

"Pass it!" I scream.

I take a step backward to catch the ball thrown at me and dribbles the last couple of feet towards the hoop.

"15 seconds!" I hear Coach's voice announce in the background. "Don't forget to comment Bolton."

I sigh.

"Bolton looks left, then right; all his teammates are guarded. He decides to take a risk, bends his knees, aims the ball to the net and throws it."

We all watch as the ball was thrown in the air, waiting anxiously to see the result.

"And he…" I start. "misses," I groan.

As the ball hits the ground, the whistle is blown, announcing the end of practice.

"Thanks for making us win, Bolton," Ron jokes, slapping my shoulder before entering the locker room.

"You're welcome," I reply sarcastically.

I make my way toward the basketball on the ground and pick it up. I roll it in my hands, remembering our first game a few weeks earlier. It was an away game; I remember not being able to sleep at all that night in the hotel room. Back then, it had only been two weeks after Gabriella and I broke up and I was still hurting. Still to this day, I'm still hurting, but less. I'll get to that later though.

"Hey Bolton, we're going out for a pizza, want to join us?" I hear.

I look behind me to see that some of the guys were already changed and ready to go.

"Nah, it's fine, I think I'm gonna stay here for a while," I answer, dribbling the ball.

I make my way toward the free throws line and shoots toward the basket, getting it in. I jog and retrieve it, before repeating the process. I remember that first game. It was against the Wolves from Carleton High, all the way across town. They had rented us hotel rooms, because Coach didn't want to travel at night and it was my first time playing in another gym. Even if there weren't many spectators in the bleachers, I was still shaking in my Wildcat uniform. The first few minutes it was so bad I was put on the bench.

However, as I had been beat down, I let my eyes roam around the few faces of the crowd and that's when I saw her. Gabriella. Even if she was faded in the crowd and I couldn't really see her face, I knew it was her. In those few seconds I had caught glimpse of her, I felt calmer and much much happier. Needless to say, we won that game. Something that had never happened in all Wildcat history. For the first time, the basketball team has won their first away game.

"Looking good number 14!"

I look behind me and send a polite smile at the group of cheerleaders who've just finished their practice like us.

"Thanks," I reply bending my knees, preparing to throw the ball.

While before I might've been semi popular because I was Gabriella's boyfriend, now I guess I can say I'm full blown popular. Whatever. No big deal. Nothing's really changed because of that. I'm still Troy Bolton, the guy who's incredibly in love with Gabriella. Only thing that's different is more people are talking to me now.

"Can't believe Gabi let that one go," I hear them saying to each other.

I ignore them, and go retrieve the ball.

"Tell me about it, the guy's just steamy. All broody and mysterious and have you seen his abs?"

I groan inwardly.

"You know how I said I was never going to date Sharpay or Gabriella's left overs? Well, I think I might just make an exception to this one."

I heard enough. Without another word I go into the locker room and shower. I haven't spoken to Gabriella since the day she left me. When we would cross path we would say hi and stuff but nothing more. It just sucks that we went from being super tight to, well, strangers. One would think after one month my love for her would've wavered, it didn't. There isn't a day I'm not thinking about her, missing her.

November 17th, 2009

"I'll have one hot chocolate," I say to the girl working behind the counter.

She quickly enters my order into the cash register and asks me if I want anything else. Her name tag reads Mara.

"I'll also have a chocolate chip cookie," I respond taking some money out from my pocket. "Thank you," I say as she hands me my order.

I'm currently in this coffee shop that is open until like midnight. Right now it's 10:32 and I can't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Gabriella, about Kelsi, about basketball, but mostly about Gabriella. As I'm making my way toward the back of the room, a mass of raven hair catches my eye. Wait.

"Gabriella?" I say dumbfounded.

There, sitting in one of the booth, with a cup in front of her is my ex. Her eyes widen upon seeing me.

"Troy? What are you doing here?" Gabriella inquires.

"I couldn't sleep. Felt like my house was suffocating me so, I came here," I explain. "What about you?"

"I couldn't sleep either," she states, looking at her cup.

"Can I?" I inquire motioning to the seat in front of her.

"Yeah, go ahead."

I set the bag with the cookie on the table before sitting down. We sit there for a minute, not quite knowing what to say. It's weird. And awkward. Now that we're exes, I doubt I can tell her everything on my mind. In fact, I don't find anything to say.

"How are you anyway?" I question, finally finding a safe topic.

"I'm okay. Tired, but okay. I haven't been really sleeping lately but even if I fall asleep everyday in class, I just can't seem to fall asleep at home. My body's weird, I know," she shrugs.

"Your body's far from weird," I retort without thinking.

Damn it. Why did I have to say that? Her eyes are now wide in shock.

"Uh, I didn't mean that. Not in that sense. I meant like uh, you're healthy?"

Wow, Troy, real smooth.

"It's weird isn't it? I mean, few weeks ago we could tell each other everything. Now, it's kind of hard to find a safe topic. Like, I have a billion things to say, but I'm not sure if I can tell you because of our status," Gabriella admits.

"Same here. I mean, even if it has been one month, it's still kind of hard for me to believe we're broken up."

"I'm trying to remember how we used to be before we were an us, and I can't. I know we were friends first, but I just can't seem to… I don't know."

I scratch the back of my neck, uncomfortably. How did we come to this? Ever since the first time we talked during the summer we've always been pretty honest to each other. I knew I could tell her anything and she seemed to tell me everything too. Effortlessly. Even when we were just acquaintances we never held back when it came to discussing.

"I miss you," I declare gently.

Maybe if I tell her what's on my mind, it'll be less awkward. I don't regret being so straight forward because right now anything is better than the silence preceding it.

"Me too," she whispers, her eyes boring into mine. "Everyday."

I send her a smile and I swear my heart stops beating when she flashes me the beautiful smile I've been missing these past few weeks. It's the truest smile we've exchanged all night.

"I know you were right to break up with me. I've come to term with it. I don't know if we'll be together again, but I know I don't want you out of my life."

"Hey, you're stuck with me forever, remember?" Gabriella reminds me.

I chuckle; ever since that day at the ice cream parlour, she'd repeat that sentence to me on a daily basis.

"Oh shit!"

We jump upon hearing the loud scream of the cashier. We look in her direction and see her looking distressed.

"Anything wrong?" I ask, since we're the only one in here.

"I had to take some pictures to replace these ones," Mara says pointing to the big old poster in front of the door. "But I forgot. And my boss was to send the pictures tomorrow. I'm so stupid," she continues.

"Want us to help you?" Gabriella inquires.

As if suddenly struck by an idea, the cashier's face turns to hopeful.

"Can I use you guys for the poster?"

I cringe.

"Uh. Well, I mean," I stammer.

"Please, please you guys. I'm begging you. I'll owe you for life please. I need this job," Mara pleads desperately.

I lock eyes with Gabriella and she urges me to say yes. I sigh.

"Okay fine," I answer dejectedly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She proceeds to go in the back room to grab her camera.

"Do you think she'll pay us?" I ask the girl in front of me.

"You're so cheap," Gabriella replies rolling her eyes.

"No, but really. Do you?"

This just earns me a kick on the leg.

"Alright guys, can you two slid in the back of the booth, close to each other, with your cup of coffee in hands?" the cashier says.

We oblige and awkwardly smile at the camera. I desperately try to ignore the sweet smell of Gabriella's perfume filling my nostrils.

"Gosh, you guys are so attractive together," the temporary photographer gushes, snapping more pictures.

Me and Gab quickly share a sad look.

"Can you put your arm around Gabi?" she requests.

How does she know Gabriella's name? I extend an arm around her shoulders.

"Now Gabi, can you bring your cup close to your lips, while looking at, uh."

"Troy," I supply.

"While looking at Troy," Mara says winking playfully.

Gabriella does as she is told and, man, her eyes are so deep. So chocolate. My eyes can't help but trail down her face, to her lips. Her luscious lips. What I would give to kiss those again.

"Okay, I think this'll be enough. Thank you guys so much," the girl says, breaking our focus.

"No problem," Gabriella replies, reverting back to her previous spot. "Tell us if you need anything else."

"I think I'll be alright. You're a real sweetheart Gab."

Mara then went into the backroom, leaving us alone.

"How does she know your name?" I inquire curiously.

"Oh, you know, she must be a student at East High," she answers, looking at her cup.

She's avoiding my gaze. She's not telling me the truth.

"She looks older than a high schooler though," I say calmly.

Judging by her guilty expression, I know she's hiding something. She does not respond though.

"Do you come here often?"

"Every now and then," she mumbles, still refusing to look at me.

"More like three nights a week!" Mara contradicts coming back. "Don't know how you do it Gab. I mean, in the fall school just started so, you didn't need as much sleep, but now you guys are nearing the finals."

"Uh, actually the finals are in January for us," Gabriella declares, red.

She looks embarrassed, she should be. I mean three times a week? Since September? We were together in September! How come she never told me?

"Oh are they? Man I'm so disconnected from high school, it's crazy! Good thing though 'cause I absolutely hated high school. I was kind of a loner you see, just minding my own business but one day, this rich popular bitch started shit with me. I swear, all hell broke loose! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. Stupid popular girls thinking the world revolved around them. Don't you just wish they would simply not exist?"

I bit back a laugh as Gabriella turned even redder. You know, 'cause she herself is a popular girl.

"Anyways, I think I've bothered you guys long enough, so I'll go back to work."

"Bye Mara," I say in Gabriella's place, since she still looks uncomfortable.

I wait until the waitress is gone before I confront my ex about what I discovered earlier.

"How come you never told me you came here during the night?" I ask her.

"Well, I mean we were broken up so I didn't think it was necessary…"

"Don't try Gabriella. You heard the waitress, you come here since September. Why didn't you ever mention it to me? I could've come with you."

She only sighs, refusing to look at me. Have we really been reduced to this? Not being able to look at each other in the eyes whenever something too serious comes up?

"Gabriella," I whisper, reaching across the table and gently lifting her chin so she'd look at me. "You've been having dreams haven't you? About her?"

Her eyes waters and she leans back, making me drop my hand. She shakily whispers:

"I didn't want you to know."

My heart breaks a little as I hear her broken tone. I extend an arm resting the back of my hand on the table, palm up. She glances at it and slowly places her hand in mine. I give her an encouraging squeeze.

"I just… you always told me how proud of me you were. Always said I was amazingly strong and you loved me because of it," she murmurs. "I didn't want to deceive you. I-I wanted you to think I was strong so you wouldn't realise how messed up I really am."

"You think I would've felt let down if you told me you were still mourning her death?" I repeat, earning a nod. "Gabriella, I love you. I love you when you're laughing at me, I love you when you're being a silly kid, I love you when you're wearing my shirt before going to bed and I absolutely unconditionally love you when you're just you. With flaws and insecurities. I love it all. I know you're not perfect; I never expected you to be unaffected by the Kelsi thing because to be honest, that would just make you appear heartless. You're human and it's normal that you have some moments where you're feeling low."

Tears are slowly falling from her eyes by now, but she doesn't motion me to stop so I continue:

"Do you remember when you weren't able to fall asleep unless I sang you 'Fix You' by Coldplay over the phone? It was then I realised I really really loved you. You were vulnerable and you were sobbing, but I loved you because you weren't afraid of showing all that to me. I don't know what changed. How you went from the girl who had no problem crying on the phone all night to the girl who hid her dreams from me because you thought you would let me down."

"Why d'you say I was strong then?" she whispers.

"Because being strong for me doesn't mean being able to forget Kelsi faster; rather it is being able to tell the truth, even if it may leave you vulnerable."

That's when she completely broke down. Uncontrollable sobs taking over her, hands on her face. I immediately slid beside her and wrap my arms around her small body. She accepts my embrace and cries in my shoulder.

"Let it out Gabriella. Let it all out," I whisper, rubbing her back soothingly.

Right then I knew things between us would be alright. We may not be together right now, but I know one day we will be. One thing's for sure, I'll do whatever it takes to always be her shoulder to cry on.

-HSM-

**Here it is: the chapter after the breakup. Hope I didn't disappoint. I've rewritten the prologue and changed the date of the murder because as it turns out, I miscalculated the time in the flashbacks. The new date of Kelsi's death is August 24.**

**By the way I'm thinking of writing a prequel to this story (a one-shot or something like that) would you guys be interested? **


	10. Flashback 5

The Gardener

Summary: During the summer between freshman year and sophomore, Troy took the job of a gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had? TxG

Chapter Nine

July 23rd 2009

I tiredly fall on the bed and close my eyes, way too exhausted to bother getting dressed in my pyjamas. Today has been one of the hottest day of the summer and, lucky me, it was work day. On top of almost passing out from the heat, I didn't even see Gabriella today. When I rang her doorbell this morning, instead of being greeted by her beautiful face, I was met by Mr Montez. Don't get me wrong Mr. Montez is a nice man and I like him, but I like his daughter more.

As I feel sleep taking over me, my cell phone starts to ring obnoxiously loud. I groan, but don't bother to pick up. At last, it stops. Thank God. From far off, I hear our home phone starting to ring, echoing through the hallway. Thankfully, I don't have any in my bedroom.

"Troy, someone wants to speak to you!" clamours my mother.

I stay silent. Maybe she'll think I'm sleeping and tell the person to call later. No such luck.

"Troy?" I hear my mom entering my bedroom. "Gabriella wants to speak to you."

I instantly sit up, no longer tired. My mom just raises an eyebrow and hands me the phone.

"Gabriella?" I say, bringing it to my ear as my mom exits.

"Troy? Why weren't you picking up your cell?" Gabriella asks.

"I uh, didn't hear it ring. I was sleeping," I lie.

"Oh, did I wake you up?"

"Uh, well yeah kinda."

"I'm sorry," she apologizes.

"It's alright," I say trying to muffle my yawn. "Hey, where were you today anyway? I went to your house and you weren't there."

"Oh, I was baby-sitting. Sorry I didn't tell you."

"Nielson's kid again?"

Yesterday after our ice cream stop, I walked her to the Nielson's house and came back real late. She texted me it went well and that's the last I heard from her before now.

"Yeah, that's why I called you by the way. I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"I'm in a, um, tough situation and only you can help me."

What kind of tough situation? Does it involve the old Nielson? The guy's a prick.

"Be there in 5," I say hanging up.

I know it may be nothing, but this gives me a reason to see her. I quickly slip on a pair of low-rise jeans, a red v-neck t-shirt and, of course, a beanie, the black one.

"Hey mom, can you drive me to Gabriella's neighbourhood?" I question.

The Nielson's house is right in front of Gabriella's.

"Now? Isn't it a little late?" mom asks, taken back.

"Please mom," I pleaded.

"It's to see her isn't it?" she smiles, knowingly.

After that fateful day in 6th grade where I saw Gabriella for the first time, I told my mom about her; I told her the new girl was really pretty. My mom joked about me starting to finally notice girls. Then I found myself talking quite often about her to my mom, not everyday, 'cause that's just creepy but, you know, every now and then. When I asked her to dance with me in 7th grade on Valentine's Day, when she hugged me at our middle school graduation, when she sat next to me one time in 9th and we talked about the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird', also the time when she stole my pencil and kept it the rest of the year. Yeah, those were the times.

"Yeah," I confirm.

My mom sends me this big grin and goes to get her keys. The day I told her I was going to go to Macdonald's with Gabriella, she was stunned. She was almost as stunned as I was. Nonetheless, she's really thrilled that me and Gab are friends and I can finally stop rambling about the pencil incident.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go," mom says, bringing me back to reality.

I grin and excitedly follow her. I know it sounds weird, but I'm secretly happy that my mom is me and Gab's biggest supporter.

"Call me when you guys are done alright?" mom says, once we're in front of Nielson's house.

"Will do mom. See ya," I reply closing the passenger door.

I casually ring the doorbell and wait. I try not to be too impatient. Seconds later, the door opens to reveal the most beautiful girl in the world.

"You really did mean it when you said 5 huh?" Gabriella teases, hugging me in greeting.

"Why, you thought I was lying?" I retort, breathing in her delicious scent, my arms around her.

"Yeah actually. I thought you went back to sleep or something," she admits pulling away.

"Did you really?" I ask, stunned. She nodded. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

"The normal type," she laughs, dragging me inside holding onto my wrist. "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

I look around. This house is as big as Gabriella's, but instead of having a homey sort of vibe, it's, I don't know, empty.

"Nah, it's alright. Aren't you supposed to be watching uh Kelly?" I ask, trying to remember what she said her name is.

"Kelsi. And, she's able to look after herself. She's not the type to, you know, break stuff," she shrugs, starting to make her way downstairs.

"Because she's a girl?" I ask, following her.

"Because she's 11," she replies simply.

Huh?

"Wait. She's eleven years old?" I inquire, wanting to make sure. "She's only like 4 years younger than you?"

"Yeah. I was weirded out too when she told me, but whatever. It surely is better than looking after a hyperactive kid."

I don't have time to respond because she opens the door and the child named Kelsi is there. She's sitting in front of a big piano and appears to be writing something on a sheet of paper.

"Hey Kels, our boy voice is here," Gabriella say, announcing our presence.

Wait, boy voice? Kelsi turns around. The girl is tiny. She has glasses and has braids. Her face looks mature, but still innocent.

"Hi, I'm Kelsi," she says politely extending a hand.

I hesitantly shake it. I'm not used to this kind of greeting from someone younger than my mom.

"Troy," I reply.

"You're as hot as Gabi said," she declares.

I look at Gabriella, surprised. Her blush confirms me she indeed described me as 'hot'. Hell yeah!

"Thank you, you're cute too," I respond to the young girl in front of me.

"Too bad I'm already taken," Kelsi says happily, turning on her heels.

"What?" I mouth to Gabriella.

She shrugs in response and goes to stand beside the little girl. I look around the room and take in the numerous instruments. There are like 6 guitars, a drum set, two trumpets, a bunch of violins… Either Mr Nielson is really musical or Kelsi is.

"So Troy, do you sing?"

I'm brought out of my reverie and turn my head to see them looking at me expectedly.

"Huh?"

"Do you sing?" Kelsi repeats.

"Well no. I mean, other than the occasional goofing off singing," I reply rubbing my neck uncomfortably as I see her narrowing her eyes.

"This'll be your lucky day then, 'cause I'm gonna teach you," the eleven year old declares.

"What?" I ask, dumbfounded.

I look at Gabriella, pleading her to help me. She sends me an apologetic smile as if to say she can't do anything about it.

"Come here beside the piano. You'll see, by the end of tonight you'll be like a professional."

I sigh and go stand beside Gabriella.

"I doubt you'll be able to achieve that. I don't even know how to read music," I confess.

"Don't worry, if I was able to teach your girlfriend, I'm able to teach anybody," she declares plainly.

I amusedly look at the girl beside me.

"You were difficult to teach?" I tease.

"Shut up. I've never sang seriously before," Gabriella replies, blushing.

I chuckle and give her a quick side hug, to indicate I'm joking.

"You guys remind me of my boyfriend and I," Kelsi cuts in.

"You have a boyfriend?" I inquire stunned.

"Yeah, he's my math tutor. Most of the time though we would be composing songs. I would've tried out this new one I wrote today with him, but he's on vacation."

That girl is seriously starting to freak me out. She's so fricken mature for her age.

"Wait, he's your math tutor?" Gabriella starts. "How old is this guy?" she questions.

"He's your age I presume," she answers simply.

Me and Gabriella's eyes meet. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one weirded out by this.

"What's his name?" I ask.

"Ryan."

"Evans?" my crush exclaims.

"Yes, you know him?" she answers calmly.

I wrap an arm around Gabriella's shoulders who suddenly looks really pale. With reason though, since Ryan is her best friend's twin brother. I would see him at school sometimes hanging out with the popular crowd, although not most of the time. Unlike his sister, he doesn't seem to enjoy the spotlight all that much.

"You… you guys are… together?" I say, wanting to make sure.

I rub Gabriella's back soothingly, as she still looks shell-shock.

"Well, no. He says he's too old for me. But I'm in love with him and he's in love with me," she states seriously.

I believe her. She seems too smart to be in denial.

"I'm gonna go get some water," Gabriella declares leaving the room.

"Oh, what am I doing? Here I am, talking about my love, instead of doing my duty. Silly me. Here, Troy," she continues, handing me a sheet of music. "This is what you'll be singing today."

I look at the weird music notes and the lyrics underneath. The title of the song says: 'Just Wanna Be with You'. Well, this is straight to the point.

"Will she be singing too?" I ask as Gabriella comes back into the room, a glass of water in hand.

There is no way I'm gonna be singing some love song to an eleven year old. Besides, this song so far really sounds like what I'm feeling towards my friend.

"Um, no there's no need," Gabriella answers quickly.

"You're right. Now that I think about it, I don't want to sing with anyone other than Ryan. So, Gabriella, you'll be singing too," Kelsi replies.

I see her groan and laugh quietly.

"I hate you," she whispers when she's by my side again.

"You're welcome," I smile smugly, making her roll her eyes.

Despite our reluctance we look over the song and do some singing exercises with Kelsi. As much as we tried to be serious though, we would often end up goofing off and unable to continue with the exercise because we would be giggling. Who knew singing could be so fun?

"You guys are impossible to work with," Kelsi sighs as our snickers started to subside.

"Sorry Kels, we won't do it again," Gabriella says, trying to appear serious.

"Yeah, won't happen again," I repeat, trying to hide my smile.

"No, I think I've had enough for tonight. You guys are clearly not taking this seriously," she answers.

"Kelsi, please come on, one last," I say.

"No. I won't let you guys make fun of my song again."

I look at Gabriella, and she looks guilty.

"We swear we won't do it again. We didn't mean to make fun of it. We were just…"

"Laughing? Giggling? Goofing off? I thought you guys were different. I thought you guys were different than my classmates," Kelsi declares, disheartened.

"We're sorry for not having taking it seriously," I say sincerely. "I think you're incredibly talented and I promise not to laugh again."

"Same here," Gabriella adds.

Kelsi looks at us blankly for a moment and her features soften.

"One last time then," she agrees, turning back to her piano.

I take the sheet music in my hands and stand straight, ready to sing. I see Gabriella doing the same thing.

"I got a lot of things  
I have to do

All these distractions

Our futures coming soon  
We're being pulled," I start, eyes on the paper.

"A hundred different directions," Gabriella joins me.

"But whatever happens," I smile at her quickly. "I know I've got you," we sing together.

"You're on my mind

You're in my heart

It doesn't matter where we are

We'll be alright," I wink, making her giggle softly.

"Even if we're miles appparrrt."

You don't have to be a genius to get who the song is for. Kelsi obviously wrote it about her separation with Ryan Evans. If they were trying to be discreet about their 'relationship', all chances of that are blown with this song.

"All I wanna do

Is be with you."

Oops, I was supposed to sing along with Gabriella there.

"Be with you

There's nothing we can do

Just wanna be with you

Only you," I get back on track and point at her.

"No matter where life takes us

Nothing can break us apart

You know it's true

I just wanna be with you."

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I could've sworn I saw Gabriella glancing at me at the last line.

"You know how life can be

It changes overnight."

By that point, I don't even need to look at the sheet music anymore. Of course, I keep in my hands, just in case, but, you know, I feel more confident singing while looking at her.

"It's sunny then raining, but it's alright," she chimes in.

"A friend like you

Always makes it easy."

Why is she so darn cute? When she's singing, her smile just lights up the room. She looks like the happiest girl on earth.

"I know that you get me

Every time."

I probably look like a moron right now with this humongus smile on my face. I can't seem to stop though. Her joy is just so contagious. Yes, before my breath would always catch in my throat whenever she was near, but now, it's different. At this exact moment my heart is beating so incredibly fast it's a wonder neither Kelsi nor Gabriella can hear it.

"Through every up, through every down

You know I'll always be around

Through anything you can count on me!"

My hand reaches for hers and as I am staring into her eyes, keeping in rhythm with the music, I realized something.

"All I wanna do

Is be with you

Be with you."

Gabriella's soft small thumb is rubbing against the back of my hand, still looking at me with those sparkling eyes of hers. It is then that I realise before what I felt for her was just infatuation. What I felt for her was just a silly school crush. For years, I thought I was head over heels crazy about that girl. I was wrong.

"There's nothing we can do

Just wanna be with you

Only you

No matter where life takes us

Nothing can break us apart

You know it's true."

I lift our interlaced hands and brought her closer. I gently cup her cheek with my other hand.

"I just wanna be with you."

I had been fooling myself thinking I was in love. I couldn't have been because right now, what I feel for her, is a thousand times more powerful than I've ever felt. I know I'm falling in love with her, hard. And I don't know how in the world I'm ever going to hide it from her.

"I just wanna be with…you," we ended.

-HSM-

**Last chapter I got 13 reviews. 13 REVIEWS. This was the biggest amount I've gotten so far so I want to thank everyone for those. They make my day and they give me motivation to write. You guys are awesome! **


	11. Chapter 5

The Gardener

Summary: During the summer between freshman year and sophomore, Troy took the job of a gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had? TxG

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. And thank you all for the reviews.**

Chapter Ten

November 17th, 2009

"Are you sure this is okay?" Gabriella inquires timidly, entering my bedroom.

"Why wouldn't it be? You've been here hundreds of times," I reply closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, but this is not like the other times," she sighs turning on the lights.

"Are we really going there, Gabi? I mean, after our moment at the coffee shop I thought being uncomfortable with each other was out of the question."

After comforting her for almost half an hour, I've convinced her to spend the night at my house.

"Doesn't change the fact we're broken up," she states looking at the picture frame on my night stand.

I watch as a sad expression harbours her features. It is a picture of us from last summer. We were at the baseball field, I was wearing my red hat and she had red ribbons in her hair. Kelsi had taken that photograph. It was maybe two weeks after Gabriella and I started going out. In that particular shot, she was actually giving me a kiss on the cheek. This is my absolute favourite picture.

I'm itching to just bring her in my arms and kiss her endlessly. However I know I can't do that right now. To distract myself I go into my wardrobe and reach to grab a pair of sweat pants she left at my house a while ago.

"I'll go get myself a mattress," I declare after handing her the piece of clothing.

"Wait what?" Gabriella says, her hand grasping my elbow.

"Well, I'm not gonna sleep directly on the floor; it's way too hard and I have basketball practice tomorrow, so yeah."

She's still looking at me with a confused expression.

"You take the bed, I'll be on the floor," I clarify, smiling a little.

"Why can't we sleep in the same bed? We've done it heaps of times before."

"Yeah, but this is not like the other times," I answer softly, repeating what she'd said to me earlier. "I'll be back, take whichever shirt you want to sleep in."

In the past she'd always use one of my shirts and her pair of sweatpants as a pyjama. Usually she would wear my black one with the superman logo on it. She looks absolutely cute in it. As I gather extra bed sheets from the pantry along with an extra pillow, I hear a door creaking open.

"Troy? What are you doing up?"

I jump out of my skin upon hearing my mother's voice. Uh oh. There she is, standing in the doorway of her bedroom, rubbing her tired eyes. She's a very light sleeper my mama; she really is.

"I uh, is it okay if uh, I have a friend sleeping over?" I inquire nervously.

"Is it a girl?" she wonders, crossing her arms.

"Uh yeah. Uh, this is why I'm getting extra sheets actually."

"Is she sleeping on the floor?"

"No, I am."

"Good. I taught you well," she smiles. "And are you dating this girl?"

"No."

Not anymore, that is. She nods, wishes me goodnight and goes back into her room. The reason she didn't tell me to keep the door open is because she knows I wouldn't have sex with another girl than Gabriella. And since she doesn't know it's her sleeping over, she thinks it is harmless. Some may say my mom is too naïve for believing I can have a girl in my bedroom and not doing anything, but actually the truth is, she just trusts me.

-HSM-

The smell of strawberry fills my nostrils. I don't really know why I'm imagining it. Guess it's because Gabriella is sleeping on the bed next to me, but man, the smell is vivid. It's like she's exactly beside me. I don't know if I'm dreaming of if I'm awake, maybe I'm in-between. I feel warm. Very warm. I remember falling asleep on the floor beside my bed just shivering from the cold, so this is a nice change. It's curious, but I guess in my sleep I must have grabbed a random pillow because right now my arms are wrapped around something soft…

Wait a minute. I slowly open my eyes and almost jump in shock when I see Gabriella's dark locks under my nose. My arms are wrapped around her waist and she's fast asleep on my chest. Uh oh. She must have rolled over and fell from the bed on top of me. Crap, if she wakes up tomorrow, she's gonna probably think I took advantage of her or something. Damn it, it could ruin everything.

But damn, I missed having her in my arms. The way our bodies fit perfectly is kind of a pang to the heart. Nevertheless, I unwrap my arms from around her waist.

"Gabi," I whisper. "Hey Gabi, wake up."

She sort of groans and shifts, but doesn't open her eyes.

"Gabriella," I try again, but this time while tapping her on the back lightly.

Her eyes flutter open and I feel bad because she looks so lost.

"Is it morning yet?" Gabriella inquires, in an absolutely adorable way.

"No, it's still night, but uh, I think in your sleep you rolled over and fell on top of me."

Her eyes suddenly widen, realising the position we are in and she instantly scurries away from me. Even if the room is dark, I can tell she is blushing.

"Uh yeah, uh I'm a klutz in my sleep," she mumbles.

"I must've been dead tired 'cause I didn't even feel you falling. Weird because you would think this sort of thing would've waked me up, after all I was the mattress," I joke.

However, she does not respond or even crack a smile. Without a sound she just climbs back into bed. That's unusual.

"Well, I guess you really are light as a feather," I try again.

"I'm the one who laid on top of you," she declares after a moment.

Really?

"Don't think I planned this, because I didn't. But, I saw you barely covered, with goosebumps on your skin and I couldn't bear it. So I kneeled beside you and pulled a blanket on you, but…"

She sorts of pause, a frown on her face.

"But what?" I say, urging her to finish her sentence.

"You still looked cold. You just looked so cold and lonely and I just missed you so much that I," she pauses and takes a deep breath, "lied beside you, rest my head on your pillow and wrapped one arm around your middle, hoping you would get warmer."

"And then, somehow in the middle of the night you got on top of me," I finish gently.

I feel a sort of thrill at the thought she still cares about me that she is willing to sleep by my side so I don't get cold.

"Yeah," she nods. "I know, this is probably not appropriate considering our situation, but uh, sleeping in your arms was probably the best sleep I had in months. Ever since we broke up actually," she declares timidly.

"Is that so?" I ask, making sure. This earns me a nod. "Well, it's still night, better make the most of it. After all we have school tomorrow. So, come here Montez."

"What? Are you serious?" she inquires, baffled. "But isn't that like off-limit?"

"It's just sleeping Gabi. Friends sleep in each other's bed all the time, why should we be any different?"

She only sends me a sad look in response. She's right of course. We're not friends; we're exes and I'm still in love with her.

"Just come here Gabriella," I order, tugging her hand.

She gratefully smiles at me and reverts to her previous position on my chest. I cover our bodies with a blanket and wrap my arms around her.

"This feels like home," I hear her whisper; although I am not sure she's talking to me exactly.

I smile a little at her declaration, agreeing wholesomely and closed my eyes.

November 18th, 2009

"Troy time to wake up and go to…"

I groggily open on eye to see my mom at the entrance of my bedroom, her eyes very wide. I frown a little. Oh right, I have Gabriella in my arms.

"Troy, I thought you said this friend you invited over wasn't your girlfriend," Mom whispers in a neutral tone.

I can tell she's mad.

"It's not what you think," I say in a raspy voice.

As I am about to explain, Gabriella starts to shift in my arms. Damn, did we wake her up? My mom and I remain silent as my girl opens her eyes.

"Good morning," she smiles at me.

"Good morning," my mother interjects behind her, stiffly.

I feel her freeze. She slowly turns her head.

"Oh hey Ms Bolton, I didn't see you there," she says nervously, removing herself from me.

My mom's face softens upon recognizing my ex-girlfriend.

"Gabriella, sweetie. It's so good to see you. Did you have a good night sleep?" she inquires.

"Yes, very good," she nods blushing madly.

"I'm glad you two worked things out. My son really missed you, you know?" she continues.

We awkwardly share a look. My mom looks so happy. How am I supposed to break the news to her without crushing her?

"I uh, I'm glad we did too. I missed him a whole lot," Gabriella replies before I can.

Her tone and the implication of her words break my heart.

For the rest of the morning, Gabriella and I got ready for school, ate breakfast and acted as a couple for my mom's sake. I know it's bad to lie to her like that, but I just don't have the heart to ruin her mood. All my mom wants is for me to be happy, she deserves to live in the fantasy at least for a little while. I'm gonna break it to her eventually though.

"It's weird to take the bus with you," Gabriella declares as we're waiting at the bus stop.

"I'll bet. Riding Sharpay's car obviously makes you think you're too cool to ride the good ol' yellow school bus with us less worthy humans," I say lightly which earns me a playful punch on the arm.

"Shut up," she scoffs mockingly.

As the bus stops in front of us, I playfully pull on Gabriella's backpack just as she was about to get in.

"Hey!" she cries out stumbling backward.

I wink before getting in first. I'm shocked when she hits my butt in response, but try not to make a big deal out of it. After all, we'd just started to get comfortable with each other again.

"Good morning Troy," the bus driver greets me an amused smile on his face.

"Good morning. Is it okay if this little lady rides in our bus?" I inquire.

"Of course, Gabriella is always welcomed here," he smiles.

"Thanks man," I nod making my way to my seat.

I hear Gabriella repeating my words behind me.

"Hi Gabi!"

I chuckle as a perky freshmen's voice wakes a bunch of half asleep students on my bus. I sit down in an available seat near the back and curiously watch as Gabriella waves in response.

"Gabriella whattup?" another guy greets.

"The ceiling," she immediately answers. "It's always the ceiling."

"Look at you, little miss popular," I joke when she finally sits beside me.

"You jelly?" she says playfully cocking an eyebrow at me.

"Oh yah for sure," I nod, not meaning it at all.

"Are you guys back together?" a girl in the seat in front of us asks.

"No, we're just friends," Gabriella replies easily.

"Yep, just friends," I manage to say.

And, hey, I managed to sound convincing. Maybe this friend thing is not going to be so hard after all.

-HSM-

I feel like someone just punched me to my stomach. It feels like someone ripped my guts out just for the sheer pleasure of it. Most of all, I feel betrayed.

"Gabriella?" I manage to croak out.

She hastily steps away from her… whatever that guy is. Thank God for that.

"Who is this?" I question trying hard not to lose it.

She won't look at me. Her arm that was previously around that jerk's middle now hung by her side.

"Uh I think I'll leave you two sort out your shit. See ya later babe," the asshole say making a big show of kissing her square on the lips.

"Who was that Gabriella? Who was that jerk?" I exclaim, heart beating abnormally fast.

"Troy, I'm sorry," she finally speaks up still not looking at me. "I… I didn't want you to find out this way…"

"A little too late don't you think? I mean, that's your new guy right?" I take her silence as a confirmation. "Why do that? We spent the freaking night together Gabi! You told me all those things at the diner about missing me and then you slept in my arms all night. All that time spent together and you never thought of mentioning him?"

I'm angry and hurt. Last night gave me hope. Last night I felt whole for the first time since we broke up.

"I'm sorry. I… I'm trying to get over you. I-I'm trying to make things right," she whimpers, tears falling from her eyes.

"You want to get over me? You really want me out of your life huh? Well congratulation, you succeeded," I declare, turning my back to her.

As I'm making my way through the crowded hallway, I have to bite my cheeks hard to stop myself from crying. A man doesn't cry in public. I can't cry. Especially since I don't want her new bastard of a boyfriend to see how shattered I really am. I faintly hear the warning bell go off, but I don't care. Screw this, there's no way I'm staying here.

I angrily push the doors open and scope the horizon. There's nobody. Good. Not being able to take it anymore I slide against the wall, heads in hand. It's really over. I lost the girl I love.

"It's not what you think, you know," a voice suddenly declares.

I snap my head up only to see Sharpay.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with her and her new boyfriend?"

"Pfft. Gabriella and Kyle? They won't last, trust me. After this summer she's wayyy past dating jerks. Besides she's really not over you."

"Doubt it. I mean she did get together with that guy."

I can't help being bitter.

"You really are love retarded aren't you? Gabriella, she's not dating him 'cause she likes him. She's doing it for you."

"What are you talking about? If she wanted to do me a favour, she would've never even have talked to that jerk."

"I should seriously be paid for the numbers of times I've helped you and Gab's relationship," Sharpay sighs, sitting down beside me. "Do you remember why you guys broke up?"

Of course I do. Does she seriously think I haven't replayed that encounter a billion times? Because I have. Every single time it ends with me convincing her not to do this and she kisses me.

"'Cause she thought she was lowering my self-esteem," I respond.

"Exactly. She thinks that as long as you still think you have a chance with her you'll never think highly of yourself."

"So, this is why she went with him?"

I can't help it, I feel a tiny glimmer of hope.

"Yeah."

"Why did you tell me?"

"'Cause I figured since you really are oblivious to all things girls, you'd never figure out by yourself what you need to do in order to get her back."

"And how's that?"

I'm curious now, I really am.

"The only way you can prove to her that this relationship won't bring you down is if you fight for her."

Huh?

"What? That doesn't even make sense. Why would she expect me to fight for her when she's doing everything she can to discourage me?"

"Because fighting for your love means you believe you're good enough for her. It means you have high enough confidence that you're willing to whisk her away from her guy so she can be with you."

"Why are you helping me?" I inquire.

"Because you're the best boyfriend she ever had. Now, to get back to what I was saying, are you willing to fight for her?"

Without missing a beat I respond:

"I'll do whatever it takes."

I'm not letting her go for the second time.

-HSM-

**To be honest, I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter. What did you guys think? Review please. **


	12. Flashback 6

The Gardener

Summary: During the summer between freshman year and sophomore, Troy took the job of a gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had? TxG

Chapter Eleven

July 24th, 2009

"And then I swear the rabbit was making his way toward me. Hadn't it been for that loud truck, I would've come back with a pet rabbit."

I chuckled as Gabriella finishes her story. Since I'm trimming one of her numerous bushes my back is to her, but I'm pretty sure right now her eyes are all wide and sparkling in excitement.

"Rabbits are wild creature, they don't care for humans," Kelsi retorts.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned that she's babysitting Kelsi again today? It's not that I mind her but, you know, my gardening time has always been me and Gab's thing.

"Oh trust me, Gabi's so cute, even the most vicious bear would fall at her feet," I interject.

"That's right. That rabbit would've so followed me home hadn't it been for that truck," Gabriella adds. "Oh Troy, you know what I just realized?"

"What?" I ask, curious about her sudden change of topic.

"We never took a picture together!"

"Huh?" I reply confusedly, turning my head around to look at her.

"I'll be back guys," my friend announces before making her way back inside her house.

"That was random," I state once the door closed shut.

"You should ask her out," Kelsi suddenly declares.

"Ask who out?" I question going back to working on those bushes.

"Gabriella, duh."

Huh? Did I just hear her right?

"Wait, what?" I stop cutting and turn to face the eleven year old girl lounging on one of the chairs beside the in ground pool.

"Oh come on. I mean you're heads over heels for her and it's quite obvious she's pretty smitten by you too."

Smitten? Who says that? This girl is too smart for her age. And man, even if she is smarter than she's supposed to be, she's dumb for thinking Gabriella likes me.

"Gabriella doesn't like me like that. We're friends. Besides, she's so out of my league."

"Why would you say that?"

"'Cause she's gorgeous, super smart, has a big heart and she's funny. Who wouldn't want her? With so many attractive guys out there, why would she want me?"

"You know what you need? A reality check! Look at yourself in the mirror Troy. You're smoking hot. And Gabi obviously notices 'cause she's always checking you out."

"Is not."

This can't be right. I mean, it wouldn't make sense.

"You need to be more confident. Girls like confident guys," Kelsi declares.

"I beg to differ."

I feel my stomach drop when Gabriella comes out, camera in hand. Oh no. Please, let her not have heard our conversation.

"I personally don't like confident guys. Because then, they think they can act like jerks and get away with it," my girl continues looking at me. "Whereas less confident guys they are sweethearts because they don't think they're good enough. That's my personal opinion though," she continues sending me a big smile.

I shyly smile back; a little relieved she does not seem to have heard our previous conversation.

"Kelsi, can you take a picture of us please?" Gabriella asks.

"Yeah sure," the young girl responds taking the camera from her.

My crush then makes her way toward me with a glint in her eyes.

"Do you want me to put a shirt on?" I inquire.

"Do you want me to cover up?" she retorts.

I quickly glance down her bikini-clad body.

"No, definitely not," I respond shaking my head.

"Then, that's my answer to you," she grins coming to stand beside me.

She places an arm around my shoulders and I, around her waist. We both send big grins in Kelsi's directions and I try to ignore the tingling feeling I have where our skins are touching. Finally the camera flashed and she disentangled from me. It was all too soon.

"Let me see, let me see," Gabriella says scurrying over the younger girl eagerly.

I sigh. She's so cute and she'll never be mine.

"Oh my gosh profile pic!" she exclaims. "This is so going on Facebook."

"Someone's a little obsessed," I tease.

"No, seriously this is such a good picture. Look," she says showing me the screen of the camera.

It is pretty great. And, maybe it's because I'm biased but, we look good together.

"It's nice," I nod.

"You guys are both so gorgeous that I'm just itching to send this picture to all the magazines out there," Kelsi interjects.

"We do look good together, don't we?" Gabriella agrees, winking at me playfully.

"You two should date," the young musical prodigee quipped in, sending me a meaningful glance.

I coughed in my hand awkwardly, attempting to hide the redness creeping upon my cheeks.

July 25th, 2009

It's the weekend; Gabriella and I are going to the skatepark. Correction: I'm going to skateboard and she's just going to hang out with Kelsi (whom she's babysitting again) and Sharpay.

"The picture got 22 likes since yesterday night, and most of the comments are either asking who you are or if that really is Troy Bolton," Gabriella tells me as we are walking. "And obviously, they're all saying that we look super hot together."

"'Course we do. When you're standing next to a smoking hot girl, it automatically raises the hotness level," I respond, nudging her.

"Oh yeah and the fact that you're shirtless has nothing to do with it right?" she retorts.

"Okay, that might have had an impact, but not as much as you being in a bikini."

"Gabriella!" a loud voice breaks our playful moment.

"Sharpay!" my girl exclaims cheerfully, running towards her best friend.

They meet up halfway and hug fiercely, squealing very loudly.

"How was Cancun?" Gabriella questions.

Sharpay's been gone for the last two weeks which has been a blessing since I could hang out with Gabriella more.

"So, did you ask her yet?"

I jump not having noticed Kelsi was even standing beside me.

"No, and I'm not going to," I reply dropping my skateboard on the ground. "She's just a friend."

"That you like a lot, if not love," she persists.

I pause for a moment thinking of the perfect way to explain to her why she'd never say yes.

"She's just a friend," I end up saying.

I don't feel like explaining myself. And so I placed on foot on my board and rolled toward the ramp. For a few minutes I was in the zone, all I thought about was my board and to keep my balance. It felt great. Rolling up and down a half-pipe was one of the greatest things.

"No way! Is that you Bolton?"

Briefly I look sideways and recognizes Jensen Anderson. I haven't seen that guy in forever and so I stepped off the ramp.

"Hey Jensen," I greet slapping hands with him.

"Where you been man? Haven't seen you around since spring," he inquires. "Where's the rest of your crew by the way? Haven't seen them in a while either."

"Chad's at a wildlife camp for the whole summer 'cause his parents thought he needed a break from videogames. Jason's at his grandparents all the way in London. And Zeke went on a road trip with his cousins," I reply.

"Wow. And you're the unlucky dude who got stuck staying in this boring-ass town all by yourself," Jensen comments.

"I'm not bored though. I'm making money this summer."

"For real?"

"Two jobs actually. Little league and gardening."

"No way; you took over Coach Rivers?"

In this town, all the boys have played in Little League baseball at one point or another. It's just cheaper and gives something to do.

"Yeah, but only the youngest ones."

"You know, you should really change your profile pic man. It's fricken misleading. I mean, you look like a fricken actor in person, and on FB, you look like your ill, no offense."

"Gee thanks man," I reply sarcastically.

I haven't changed my profile picture in forever. I never go on so what's the point?

"Oh dude, don't turn around but there's a smoking hot babe at ten o'clock," he states looking over my shoulder.

Ignoring his warning, I turn my head to my right and am met by the sight of Sharpay, Gabriella and Kelsi sitting on the bleachers, talking amongst themselves. I look around and don't see any other 'smoking hot babes' so I figure he's talking 'bout Sharpay or Gabriella (since Kelsi is too young looking).

"Oh, you mean Sharpay?" I ask.

Jensen is not at our school so he doesn't know them. His parents send him to a boarding school during school year.

"If that's the brunette's name, yeah," he nods.

My stomach drops. He means Gabriella. Of course he means Gabriella.

"No actually. The blonde's name is Sharpay. The brunette is called… Gabriella," I clarify in a tense voice.

"Gabriella huh? That's a pretty name. She taken?"

I rub the back of my neck, uncomfortably. Am I really doing this? Am I really encouraging him to pursue her?

"Ohh. She's yours isn't she?" Jensen says knowingly.

I pause. I could lie and say that yes she is mine. But that would be bad wouldn't it? I would be a bad friend to both Gabriella and Jensen.

"No. She's just a friend. Come, I'll introduce you to her."

"You sure man? You look pretty shaken up when I even mentioned her. You sure you don't want dibs?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure. Gabriella and I are just friends."

I march over to where the girls are standing before I could change my mind and decide to selfishly keep her for myself. As I am approaching, Gabriella stands up and meets me in front of the bleachers where she had been sitting.

"I didn't know you were this good on a skateboard," she declares with a big grin.

For a moment there I forget to breathe. She is just so beautiful when she's smiling at me like that.

"There's a lot of things you don't know 'bout me, Montez," I respond, faking arrogance which made her giggle.

"So who's your friend?" Gabriella inquires looking at the boy next to me.

My heart drops.

"Oh, Gabriella this is Jensen. He's an old friend of mine. And Jensen, Gabriella is a girl in my class," I say attempting desperately not to sound heartbroken.

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella," Jensen declares softly, sending her a nice smile.

"Likewise. I've never seen you around though, which is weird 'cause it's such a small town," she replies.

I can't do this. I can't stand there and watch helplessly as they flirt. And so I retreat back to the skating ramp, heartbroken.

As I embark on my board, I don't feel the same thrill I felt a few minutes earlier. I'm not in the mood to stay here and pretend like my heart isn't shattered.

"Troy!" Kelsi exclaims attracting my attention.

She motions me to come to her, so I do. I cast a small glance to Sharpay who is next to her. Behind them, on the bleachers are Gabriella and Jensen. I quickly avert my gaze elsewhere.

"Are you stupid?" the music composer snaps. "What are you doing setting up the girl you like with another guy?"

"Yeah, I gotta say, that's pretty stupid," Sharpay agrees.

"Jensen's a friend of mine. He asked me to introduce him to her, so I did. What's the big deal?" I explain, trying to convince them that it did not affect me quite as much as it does.

"The big deal is by attempting to convince yourself that you don't like her, you're hurting yourself and her in the process," Kelsi continues. "For some twisted, stupid reason you think she's too shallow to want to go out with you."

"She's not shallow. She's just too good for me…"

"Oh my God are you blind? She's crazy 'bout you!" the younger girl exclaims.

"Yeah, I gotta admit. Every time I talked to her on Facebook or on the phone she always mentions you in the fondest of ways. She only does that when she's really really into a guy," Sharpay interjects.

"Exactly! She's been giving you hints for weeks now, why can't you just see that?"

"Oh yeah. I remember at the beach, she brought him as her date," the blonde girl mused.

"Has she ever flat out said she liked me as more than a friend?" I interrupt.

"No…"

"Then, that's that. Her and I are just friends and it'll always be like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head home to prepare for Little League practice tonight," I say curtly.

"You'll regret it Troy. If you don't tell her, you'll regret it!"

I try to block out the words as I walk away from them, skateboard under my arm.

"Troy!" I feel a hand grabbing my elbow. It's Gabriella. "You're leaving?" she asks in a small voice.

"Yeah, I have to get ready for baseball practice tonight," I lie easily.

"It's not until 4 hours, though," she retorts confusedly.

"Yeah well, I'm kind of tired so I might take a nap, then I have to shower, eat and plan practice." It's scary how easy it was to lie.

"Oh okay," she reply, apparently not convinced. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. Stay here with Sharpay, Kelsi and… Jensen. I'll see ya tomorrow."

I'm pleasantly surprised when she hugs me.

"I'll call you tonight 'kay?" Gabriella declares pulling away.

"Okay."

And then I bolted out of there. How am I supposed to survive this summer by just being her friend?

-HSM-

**It's been too long, but I'm back and determined to finish as many stories as I can. This chapter may not have been that interesting, but to make up for it, next chapter will be another summer flashback. **

**And if you ****log on and leave a review****, I'll give you a ****sneak peak**** of the next chapter. This is to apologize for the long wait. **


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